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Find out how to use your appliance (or not) for a carbon-friendly kitchen.
According to research verified by the University of Bonn, the average household will do two or three hand washes a day using 60 litres of water, while a new dishwasher typically uses 12 litres per wash.
Appliance manufacturer Bosch, keen to promote its eco-credentials, claims hand washing consumes around 26,400 litres of water per year compared to 2,640 litres for a dishwasher.
Jacob Tompkins of Waterwise - a member of the government's Water Saving Group - says washing up accounts for about 10% of a household's daily water needs, but using a modern dishwasher could reduce this to less than 2%. He says:
If every household in the UK did this, it would save more than a quarter of a billion litres a day.
What this doesn't take into account, however, is the total energy used to manufacture the dishwasher, the transport costs and raw materials used or hand-washing habits.
Dishwashing efficiency hasn't changed enormously over the past few years, so if your machine still works you can improve its efficiency.
Use a plant-based detergent to minimise your environmental impact further.
Dishwashers are rated according to energy and drying. Choose a model rated as 'A' for both, to get the best environmental performance.
Waterwise lists dishwashers according to water consumption. At the time of writing the Miele G1530SC full-size is the best, using just 10 litres per cycle.
However, Bosch claims its Bosch Logixx SGS65L22 uses just 9 litres during one of its cycles.
This article is based on an extract from Friends of the Earth's book How Can I Stop Climate Change?
For more handy tips on doing the housework the green way, read Cut Cleaning Costs.
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