I was my dishes in hand. I don't own a dishwasher,and I never will. It is more friendly to the environment to do your dishes by hand, and I think it's more fun to do it by hand, especially if you're doing it with someone else, of course.

i feel more comfortable knowing that my dishes are clean if i hand wash them myself. Something about not knowing what goes on behind that dishwasher door unsettles me.

With an energy star dishwasher who knows which is better? Without then obviously handwashing. I wish motion shut off sinks were more economical and much more common, we waste too much water here in the US.

I am a freshman in highschool and I am doing a 10 page research paper on global warming. This is my first so I would like it to look good. Out of curiosity I have heard many rumours going around that Live Earth actually used a ton of energy! Please tell me how much did you actually use?Thank you for your time

One more question. Did the people, the crew, and the singers use either planes, cars or buses to tranport themselves to the Live Earth Concert. Thanks again.

To answer the hand washing dishes question. Perhaps we should not wash our dishes at all. Maybe we could get a hand-knitted cloth of somesort one that didn't not take any energy at all to make and simply wipe the dish! Better yet do what im going to do. Join an Amish village!

I actually think dishwasher is more efficient. I have done dishes by hand and while I am lathering them, I turn the water off. But it still seems like it takes more water to rinse them than it does to wash a full load of dishes in the washer.

Maybe the answer is dish washing if it is an energy efficient machine.

Hi it's me again. I'm taking it since you didn't answer my two quesions, you did use a lot of energy and you did use either a plane, a car, or a bus to transport people to the Live Earth Concert. Thank you for your help!

I live on my own & don't have a dishwasher but many friends (some with families) do & I never miss a chance to 'have a go' by saying they're wasting water & electricity but they reply 'if' they're fully loaded and not used frequently then it's more efficent than handwashing - is this true?

I hand wash, and believe in it on a number of levels, not just the environmental one. It's one more thing that I can do for myself, rather than depend on a machine. I believe the very manufacture of that machine cancels any energy savings that might have resulted from it's use.
I also use a dish pan and use the water for outdoor plants, thus saving more of the earth's resources. (Yes, one could reroute the dishwasher's output into graywater system-if they only would.) The visual aspects of seeing the dishpan fill up is an incentive to use less water, whereas, when I use a machine I never see the accumulated water (or energy!) it uses. My two cents.

I have been reducing the number of lamps and am putting in flourescent bulbs. I am using regular glasses to reduce paper consumption.
I also am conscious of driving so as not to consume gas.
Picking up litter to clean the earth is a big help too. Some fisherman leave behind nets and hooks that the ducks and egrets need rescueing for.
So I would like to put out that point to the fisherman who do leave cans, nets and hooks too.

Hi, My dear dishwasher died a while ago so I reverted to handwashing. With 3 children left in the household, it seemed a burden at first. However, one benefit that was unexpected was the time we now spend talking as we do dishes. As for savings, I think we use less water and there is little electricity involved since we has a gas hot water heater. I use an environmentally safe soap. I would be interested in a measure of the energy savings though.

It is impossible to waste water. Any water used will eventually return to the water cycle. However, it is true that some areas lack water supplies for the population. The solution, move to areas with plentiful supplies of water or don't move to arid areas. It is completly insane to for huge populations to live in areas such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc... The people who move to these areas create the water supply problems and I don't think we need to spend billions in infrastructure for a population that shouldn't be living in such an inhospitable area in the first place.

The amount of water I use or don't use has absolutely no effect on areas which lack water. I don't see massive water pipelines crossing the country from the Ohio River. What water I use or don't use will eventually evaporate and form clouds or flow out to the Gulf of Mexico. So it makes no difference if I conserve water or not, arid regions won't see one drop of the water I didn't use.

When it comes to energy conservation who cares how much power I'm using if I'm not connected to the coal burning power grid and generating my own from solar and wind.

In conclusion, If you really want to save the environment move to an area with plentiful water, generate your own power from renewable sources, grow some of your own food, learn how to can food, sew your own clothes, knit blankets, use worn out clothes as cleaning rags or as pieces for quilts, and stop driving or owning a car which uses gasoline. It isn't difficult to do.

I expect the typical answer.. "IT DEPENDS".

If you use a dishpan or just put some water in the sink with the drain plugged, add a little soap, wash every dish and do a final rinse of all dishes at the end, I expect this would be more efficient. And, you can always use the dirty dishwater to dump on outside plants or in the compost to be extra efficient.

However, just yesterday, while I was walking my dog by a neighbor's house, I could hear the water running in their kitchen sink.. on full blast for quite a time as they stood there washing each dish and rinsing each under the running water before getting to the next dish with the water never stopping for a moment.

So, as is so often the case.. "IT DEPENDS".. it is HOW we do what we do, more than what we do in itself.

I look forward to the 'expert answer'.

I'm going to assume hand washing is more efficient, but that it depends on the method used. I worked for a restaurant in Germany one summer, and they actually didn't rinse the dishes. I was instructed to soap them up and then wipe everything off with a dish towel. Water seems to be much more expensive in Germany than it is in the US, so people conserve.

Also, I'll go out on a limb here and say that washing by hand and *then* putting the dishes in the dishwasher is definitely inefficient.

When I lived by myself I always choose to hand wash. Easier. I never liked the harsh chemicals yet now I live with a sloppy man and 3 animals. I have to use a dish washer. I don't LIKE it yet I make sure it is full to the brim. I am in a cast and it hurts ao I HAVE to use it. So sometimes we do what we gotta do.

I live in an apartment that comes with a dishwasher, but I use it as a drying rack since I could never fill up the machine to a full-load. So, to me if it isn't fully loaded, I think hand-washing is much more efficient.

Elizabeth

You could probably go to the main Al Gore site and use the "Contact Us" link to email the folks who run this website. No guarantee that they will know the ones who set up the concert, but it's a good place to start. I don't think that they read these posts.

Good luck on your paper.

As we only are two people in our household, I think the best way is to dish by hand.

I have a dishwasher and use it, but sometimes I prefer washing them by hand. I'm considering doing a parer on Global Warming also, so kudos to Elizabeth!! Anyway, it really does depend on how you're conserving it between the dishwasher and hand rinsing.

Before washing, I organize the dishes in a manner that makes the washing faster, according to size and shape and material. For instance, I wash glass dishes first and silverware last. I fill the sink half way and I use cold water. I use one of those sponges that you can put the soap in. After I wash the dish, I set it on the counter and rinse them all at once. I know it sounds like a tedious and over thought out process but it really isn't. Along with other types of conservation efforts, this helps to keep my electricity bill down to less than $20 a month and my gas bill at less than $30. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment, so my bills aren't very high to begin with. I try to keep my use as low as possible because I know that there are so many others out there that don't consider it.

I often can use the economy cycle on my dishwasher and I have an Energy Star rated dishwasher that requires no pre-rinsing so I know I save more by using a dishwasher than I would by handwashing.

When I have a big group for dinner, I can save water if I can keep everyone from trying to help and pre-rinsing dishes! I can use the super cycle and clean all the dishes and pans and turn off the dishwasher before it gets to a dry cycle and just air dry the dishes.

I didn't know the CR had found two green dishwashing products so when I need more, I'll try either Trader Joe's or Target's Method.

Good information. Thanks!

on demand water heaters use less energy to heat the water. save energy and water through your handwashing. next water heater- consider an on-demand...

Hand washing is more efficient in most cases with reasonable water use practices.

With more than five in a household, prewashing before dishwashing may be more efficient. Prewashing is using a sink of plain or water even with some soap to soak and remove nearly all visible residue before sticking it in the dishwasher. This water can be used quite a bit more than normal washwater and can be quite dirty before it can no longer be used for prewash. Then it can be thrown out in the yard if you're so inclined.

The dishwasher then can wash as a water efficient setting and allowed if desired to go through a drying cycle as well.

Why on earth does nearly every example above assume people are rinsing dishes under running water?!? That's why most sinks have two compartments: you put your wash water in one side and your rinse water in the other! It takes about 4 gallons of water total to do all the dishes from a complete meal and no electricty except for the water heating (which is only heated to a comfortable on your skin temp, not a scalding sanitizing temp like a dishwasher would do).

When I camped out with my Dad we used cold water for washing dishes. It really doesn't matter if you're using soap. I now use warm water, for comfort. Also, I scrape food off dishes and let them stack up for two or three days until I get a rack full. (I live alone - conserves a lot of water & there's nobody but me to be bothered by the use of counter space. Kate

I wash my dishes by hand,using two basins.One for washing, the other for rinsing.The rinse water has white vinegar in it to help reduce hard water stain spots.The soapy water goes out to the garden.I live in KS,and keep my garden areas alive,especially during drought,with my dishwater.The small basin of rinse water goes down the drain.I do this all year round,unless of course it's freezing outside.

There was a study by a university in Bonn, which took into account the dishwashing habits of 113 people, each cleaning 140 items.

On average, each person in the study used 103 litres of water, a dishwasher uses 15 liters. The test used electrical water heaters and the average dishwashing person used 2.5 kwh, where a dishwasher uses 1 kwh.

Of course we don't all clean 140 items every time we wash the dishes, but then we can wait a few days until the dishwasher is full too before switching it on.

Read an interesting article: http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/dishwashers.htm

I think there are certainly instances where technology can be used to make improvements in the environment, and we shouldn't shy away from it!

To the people who wash in cold water and Lara who worked at the restuarant in Germany, I beg you to please ducate yourselves on the dangers of food borne illnesses. I am an environmentalist to the core, but it is not worth it to expose yourself, family and guests to thousands of possible diseases simply to save a little energy. Most bacteria require 3 things to be killed: friction (eg scrubbing the dishes), soap (deosn't need to be antibacterial) and the hottest possible water. This is required by the health department for all restaurants- why would you allow conditions to exist in your home that are unaccpetable in the restuarants you eat in?