What is an ECO Shower?
Most people are aware that when you drive a car, that smoke that comes out of the tailpipe is gross and bad for the environment. It’s something that we can intuit; It looks gross and smells gross. You can feel it negatively affecting the quality of the air. So it’s not a big stretch to believe that the same smoke coming out of the tailpipe is accumulating in the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping, and causing the planet to warm. Without anyone even telling us to, we can make the jump to think “hey, I should probably reduce my driving so I don’t put so much of this stuff into the air.”
But there are many places where we emit carbon dioxide that AREN’T as easily recognizable. Many in our very own homes. An increasing number of homes are being powered by solar and renewable energy sources, but still, the majority of American homes are being powered by fossil fuels, meaning that for every light you leave on, you’re probably emitting carbon dioxide. Another big one is water heaters: nearly all of American homes still use natural gas to heat water, and most have a big tank of water kept constantly heated by that gas; constantly releasing carbon into the atmosphere. Is there some way to reduce these emissions?
The hot water in your home is probably used for several things, like washing your clothes or dishes, and maybe we can’t skimp too much there (although setting your washing machine to use only cold water can help!). There is another place where we can significantly reduce our hot water consumption: the shower. One way to help the environment is to take an environmentally-friendly, eco shower.
America’s Effect From Showers On The Environment
According to the EPA, the average American family uses about 40 gallons of water per day just on showers. That adds up to about 1.2 trillion gallons of water per year! Just on showers! But water usage alone is not the problem: showers use heated water. In nearly all of American homes, water is heated via a large tank that is constantly heated to high temperatures so that hot water is available whenever needed. In nearly 100% of cases, those water heaters are heated by burning natural gas (methane, CH4), which emits carbon dioxide (CO2), which builds up in the atmosphere, traps heat from the sun, and causes the average temperature of the earth to increase: climate change, or global warming. So any reduction in hot water use means a reduction in CO2 emissions, and therefore a reduction in climate change!
How to take an environmentally-friendly shower
An eco shower basically involves doing the following three things:
- Keep your shower as short as possible.
- Turn off the water when you’re not using it (while you’re shampooing or lathering)
- Don’t use any hot water.
Yeah. I got through the first two thinking “Meh, this doesn’t seem too bad. I could do this.” too. “Number 3: No hot water” was where my NOPE-reaction kicked in.
A no-hot-water shower. Let that sink in. This is a bone-(or at least body-)chilling thought to many. It definitely was to me. I’m the kind of guy that takes 15 minutes to get my body in the water when I go to the beach…In HAWAII. While my 9-year-old daughter just jumps right in, fully submerging her whole body into the water in one big splash, I spend much much longer steeling myself for the slow and painful immersion into the frigid (okay, actually quite warm) waters of Hawaii. So you can imagine how the immediate reaction to “cold shower” was “impossible.”
My Eco Shower Challenge
I decided to try the eco shower out by giving myself a challenge, as I like to do. I initially promised myself for 1 month, 3 of my showers every week must be a full, 100% eco shower. And on July 19th, 2020, I tried my first eco shower. Annnnnd it hurt. Full disclosure: I’m a big baby when it comes to cold water, and the first time I doused myself with cold water I thought I was going into shock. My heart rate and my breathing rate went up like crazy. I was not sure this was going to be something I could continue. But I kept on it. I committed to this. I posted it on Instagram to hold myself accountable.
As of this writing, I’m at the start of week 4 of my challenge, with a total of 10 cold showers and 3 hot showers And I have to say, despite the first week being pretty painful, I’ve adjusted and gotten used to it quite a bit. It took about 4 showers before I got to the point where, after the initial step into the cold shower, I was able to immerse my whole body without too much suffering. It still gives me a bit of a shock when I first get under the water, but I’ve been surprised at how easy it is to take a cold shower after bearing that initial shock!
It was cold, but… I SURVIVED!
Possible Health Benefits of an ECO Shower
There have also been studies linking taking cold showers with improved health. Some studies have found that taking a cold shower can help your metabolism, improve your immune system, improve blood circulation, and help strengthen the nervous system!
An easy way out without changing your habits
There is another method to reduce the impact of your showers that I haven’t mentioned yet: water-efficient shower heads (Affiliate link)!
The average household shower head uses about 2.5 gallons per minute (GPM), but these days they make shower heads that can use as little as 1.5-2 gallons per minute. Half a gallon of water doesn’t seem like much, but if you’re multiplying it by a 10-minute shower at 4 showers a week, that adds up to water savings of 20 gallons of water per week that you’re not using or heating!
So when you’re shopping for your next shower head, look for this logo:
Thinking of trying out the eco shower?
As with all environmentally-friendly life changes, don’t try to do everything at once. Just like learning to high dive, if you set your goal as “Olympic level”, you’re setting yourself up to fail. By all means, set the Olympics as an eventual goal, but you want to start to the basics of form and practice at low heights and work your way up. With eco showers, try starting out by just reducing the number of showers you take per week, if you can! That alone can add up to have a big impact!
But if you’re looking to do a little more, maybe at first you decide to just keep your showers as short as possible. Great! If you decide you’re just going to turn off the water when you’re not using it, Awesome! Maybe you decided you’re not so hardcore but you’re just going to lower the temperature of your shower a few degrees all the time. Fantastic! Doing any of these things is super easy and you’re still more environmentally-friendly than you were before! You can always commit to doing more later, once you get into the habit of doing one of the three things.
If you’re looking for more ways to make your bathroom eco, check out my blog post on 10 Eco Swaps You Can Make To Make Your Bathroom Eco!
So give it a shot! Let me know in the comments below what you tried, and whether you were able to handle it! Are there eco-shower tips I’m missing? Let me know!
Sources:
–https://www.epa.gov/watersense/showerheads
–https://www.healthline.com/health/cold-shower-benefits#improved-circulation