Save the Earth, One Shorter Shower at a Time! – Follow These Shower Efficiency Tips

Your morning or evening shower is very easily the most relaxing part of your entire day. Sometimes it just feels so good to close your eyes and stand under the rain-like flow of your showerhead. The only problem is, sometimes our most relaxing showers are also the ones that waste the most water (and therefore waste the most energy, too)

Here are some tips on how to conserve water while taking a shower:

· Do not leave the water running to “heat up” for very long. It can take a while for the water to get warm, but it usually does not take so long that you have time to make your breakfast or clean your kitchen!

· Take shorter showers. Use a shower timer and try to keep your shower limited to five minutes – sometimes just being aware of how long you have been in the shower will help you keep your shower time shorter. This may be very difficult, especially since the average American shower time tends to be closer to ten minutes, but any time that you can trim off will help.

· Turn off the water when you are soaping up. While you are shampooing your hair or soaping your body, you do not need the water to be on. In fact, it is almost easier if the water is not running.

· Turn off the water when you are shaving. If you need water to clean out your razor, just use a cup full of water.

· Exercise before you shower. Exercising before you shower serves a few purposes: by exercising first, you wake yourself up, and you are less likely to dawdle in the shower. Also, exercising warms you up, and you will not need to use as warm of water – remember, the warmer the water, the more energy you are using.

· Buy a low flow showerhead. Make sure that your showerhead uses not more than 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm). It is best if you can find one that uses only 1.5 gpm. Realize that some showerheads, especially older showerheads, have a flow of around 6-8 gpm! Also, using a low flow showerhead does not mean that you have to sacrifice water pressure. There are many different, excellent low flow showerheads that you might even like better than your current, 6 gpm showerhead!

· Try to shower only once a day, rather than twice.

· It is OK to go a day without showering every once in a while!

Even if you can only manage to follow a few of these tips, you will be helping to conserve water. And remember that by conserving water in the shower, you are also conserving energy (because energy is required to heat our water), and by conserving energy, you are saving money. Taking shorter showers and following some of these other tips helps not just the environment, but ensures a better future for you, as well.