Comments on: How to Slash Summer Energy Costs http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/20/how-to-slash-summer-energy-costs/ personal finance that makes cents Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:24:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Jenny Sutton http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/20/how-to-slash-summer-energy-costs/#comment-81577 Jenny Sutton Sun, 18 Mar 2007 16:43:22 +0000 http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/05/20/how-to-slash-summer-energy-costs/#comment-81577 ENJOY A “GUILT-FREE” SHOWER! Did you know you could save 480 gallons of water per month this summer, and the money it costs to buy and heat that water, simply by taking “one minute showers?” And that’s the savings just for one person. Multiply those savings for a multi-person household. What I’m talking about is not deprivation, but really a 5-minute shower that only uses 1 minute’s worth of water. I usually take a 5- minute shower (including shampooing and conditioning my hair). I couple of years ago I discovered that if I turned off the water while I wasn’t actually using it to wet down my hair, body and washcloth and to rinse off soap and conditioner, I took a 5-minute shower that only used 1 minute’s worth of water --- a savings of 80%. Most of my “shower time” is spent doing things that don’t need water: soap up the cloth, scrub the body from head to toe, open shampoo bottle, apply and work in the shampoo, do the same thing with conditioner, wring out wet washcloth and hang it up, etc. It’s quite comfortable in the summertime, i.e. I don’t feel cold. And the four minutes of quiet time without the noise of the running water are actually quite relaxing. (I don’t do this in the winter months, when it’s uncomfortably cold and I’m showering less frequently.) My single-knob handle with a pointer adjusts to the desired temperature in a second or two. The dollar savings for water are not big (about a nickel per shower), but it can be attractive over a span of months or a year, especially in a multi-person household where each person may take 30-40 showers per month during the summer. More significant are the dollars saved on gas/electricity to heat the water, and the conserving of water itself, which is so important in the summer in drought-prone areas like the Southeast where I live. Cost of a shower in gallons and dollars, not including heating cost (Fulton County, Atlanta, Georgia Oct 2006): One 5-minute shower: 20 gal. x $0.00329 average cost per gal. = $0.0658 One 1-minute shower: 4 gal. x $0.00329 average cost per gal. = $0.0132 Savings per shower: 16 gal. x $0.00329 = $0.0526 (about a nickel per shower) A single person showering 30 times per month, would save: . 480 gallons of water per month . $1.58 cost of water per month . $???? cost of gas/electricity per month to heat the water (beyond my skills to calculate this, but surely more expensive than the water! Could anyone calculate this?) ENJOY A “GUILT-FREE” SHOWER!
Did you know you could save 480 gallons of water per month this summer, and the money it costs to buy and heat that water, simply by taking “one minute showers?” And that’s the savings just for one person. Multiply those savings for a multi-person household. What I’m talking about is not deprivation, but really a 5-minute shower that only uses 1 minute’s worth of water.

I usually take a 5- minute shower (including shampooing and conditioning my hair). I couple of years ago I discovered that if I turned off the water while I wasn’t actually using it to wet down my hair, body and washcloth and to rinse off soap and conditioner, I took a 5-minute shower that only used 1 minute’s worth of water — a savings of 80%. Most of my “shower time” is spent doing things that don’t need water: soap up the cloth, scrub the body from head to toe, open shampoo bottle, apply and work in the shampoo, do the same thing with conditioner, wring out wet washcloth and hang it up, etc. It’s quite comfortable in the summertime, i.e. I don’t feel cold. And the four minutes of quiet time without the noise of the running water are actually quite relaxing. (I don’t do this in the winter months, when it’s uncomfortably cold and I’m showering less frequently.) My single-knob handle with a pointer adjusts to the desired temperature in a second or two.

The dollar savings for water are not big (about a nickel per shower), but it can be attractive over a span of months or a year, especially in a multi-person household where each person may take 30-40 showers per month during the summer. More significant are the dollars saved on gas/electricity to heat the water, and the conserving of water itself, which is so important in the summer in drought-prone areas like the Southeast where I live.

Cost of a shower in gallons and dollars, not including heating cost (Fulton County, Atlanta, Georgia Oct 2006):

One 5-minute shower:
20 gal. x $0.00329 average cost per gal. = $0.0658
One 1-minute shower:
4 gal. x $0.00329 average cost per gal. = $0.0132
Savings per shower:
16 gal. x $0.00329 = $0.0526 (about a nickel per shower)
A single person showering 30 times per month, would save:

. 480 gallons of water per month
. $1.58 cost of water per month
. $???? cost of gas/electricity per month to heat the water (beyond my skills to calculate this, but surely more expensive than the water! Could anyone calculate this?)

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