Going Green and Frugal

Long await post about being green in the kitchen, this one is more than likely going to be a long one as I can think of so many way of being green in the kitchen.

Dishwasher

Now I know a lot of people worry that using a dishwasher is worse than hand washing but I have researched this in depth, and it turns out that no using a dishwasher on a ECO wash is cheaper and uses less electricity than hand washing. But I would like to mention please remember to turn the plug off while not using it as this is use wasting energy that doesn’t need to be wasted.

I found this article which works out how much energy and water you will use in a dishwasher vs hand washing

Water use, energy use, and carbon footprint

There are three big factors we’ll consider: water use, energy use (for heating the water, largely), and the carbon footprint that results — we’ll save things like soap and dishwasher cooking for another post. And, of course, following energy-saving tips like running the “light” cycle and turning off the “heated drying” option will change the way the numbers work.

Built-in dishwasher efficiency

The average dishwasher uses 6 gallons of water per cycle; the average Energy Star-rated dishwasher uses 4 gallons per cycle, and their energy use ranges from 1.59 kWh per load down to 0.87 kWh per load. Using the Department of Energy’s carbon dioxide emissions numbers of 1.34 pounds of CO2 per kWh, that’s 1.16 to 2.13 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted per load, to go along with 4 gallons of water.

Energy Star assumes each load in a “standard” dishwasher (usually 24 inches in size) has “a capacity greater than or equal to eight place settings and six serving pieces,” so we’ll go with that when considering how many dishes need to be washed by hand.

Can hand washing be as efficient as dishwashing?

The short answer: maybe. First, let’s look at water usage alone. The average faucet flows at 2 gallons per minute, so if you can successfully wash and rinse eight place settings — plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, glasses, etc. — and those six serving dishes that your dishwasher can handle without running the faucet for more than 2 total minutes, then, you might be better off hand-washing. Assuming you’re washing 54 pieces of dishware (that’s 48 pieces of dishware — 6 pieces per setting — and 6 serving dishes), you’ve got about 4.4 seconds of wide-open tap water per piece, or about 9.5 ounces of water to wash and rinse each dish.

Impacts of heating the water

Let’s assume you use warm water for both washing and rinsing — half hot water and half cold water. Heating 2 gallons of water with a gas hot water heater (from about 60 degrees as it enters your house to, say, 120 degrees, set by the thermostat on your hot water heater) takes about 960 BTUs, or about 0.9% of one therm (100,000 BTUs), assuming 100 percent efficiency.

Gas storage tank water heaters

Gas water-heaters are usually more like 65 percent efficient, so it really takes 1477 BTUs, or about 1.5 percent of a therm, to heat that water. One therm emits 11.7 pounds of CO2, according to the EPA (pdf), so heating the water with gas for each 2-gallon load emits about .17 pounds of carbon dioxide.

On-demand (or tankless) water heaters are closer to 80 percent efficient, which changes the numbers a bit; it works out to about 1200 BTUs, or about .14 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Electric storage tank water heaters

The story is a bit different when considering an electric water heater; while most electric water heaters use between 86 and 93 percent of their energy for heat (compared to between 60 and 65 percent for gas), electric heaters aren’t as efficient at heating water. It still takes 960 BTUs to heat that much water; it just takes about .28 kWh (since, according to the EIA, 1 kWh equals 3412 BTUs) to heat 2 gallons of water at 100 percent efficiency, or about .30 kWh at 93 percent efficiency. Each kWh emits 1.715 pounds of CO2, on average (thank you, EPA), so heating water with electricity for each 2-gallon load emits about .51 pounds of CO2.

Built in dishwasher vs. hand-washing: And the winner is…

These numbers indicate that it’s possible to be more efficient when hand-washing, but it’s pretty tough. Can you successfully wash and rinse a soiled dinner plate in just over a cup of water? If you can keep the water use low, equal to an efficient machine, you’ll require less energy, but doing an entire load of dishes in 4 gallons of water is roughly equivalent to doing them all in the same amount of water you use in 96 seconds of showering (using a showerhead that emits 2.5 gallons per minute).

So, as long as you don’t often run your dishwasher when it’s only half full of dirty dishes, or unless you are very miserly with your water use (or have an old, inefficient dishwasher), the automatic dishwasher is likely to be more efficient. That is to say, it’s possible to use less water and energy by hand washing your dishes, but it’s not easy. Of course, if you do it just right, it might just be a wash.

More information at treehugger.com

Cleaning Products

Now I have mentioned this before down in the being green in the bathroom but cleaning product are an large impact on the world, using more organic, more natural products is always best, the only issue that gets me if the price, I understand why that have to be more expensive because it is not just chemicals like the cheaper brands but I wish they would bring it down a little bit as not all of us have money to burn.

Pet related

This one is a tough due to the fact it has taken me forever to find cat litter than is not going to kill the environment, I have tried loads of cat litter for one I hate the clumping ones as they take forever to clean (which wastes water, cleaning product and not to mention it smells), I have gone for a one at the moment which is little tubs of old wood shavings, the think I like about it the most is the fact when the cat goes to the bathroom the little tubs disappear a leave what I can only describe as sawdust (kind of like a hamster cage lining) but it does have a nice pine smell and lasts longer so you don’t use as much saving money and saving time. If you can go for an eco cat litter it is nicer for the cat and for your noses.

Cat food tins wash out, I know it is a huge pain but if you have one cat or three like myself you will end up going through at least one tin a day, with mine it is two tins a day (I swear Onion steals everyone else’s food but I can’t prove it!), I did try putting these through the dishwasher but everything smelled of cat food so now I have to hand wash them with bleach as well as washing up liquid, please use a different wash cloth as it is not nice otherwise.

Also check out Eco-Me Cat Kit Natural Tool Kit, you can make your own cat litter and flea spray, also cat treats, I might have to give this one ago.

Recycling

I am huge on recycling, lucky for me my council provide me little pink bags which I put out every week, what I have found is a lot of items can be recycled, in my household we have one bin for rubbish and one for recycling, my mother is even better and has a bin for vegetable ends, egg shells and other organic food matter which she puts in her compost down at the end of the garden. I haven’t got a huge garden more like the size of postage stamp but I could fit a small one in my mother informs me.

Having two bins really saves me the headache of having to keep the bag somewhere, since recycling (I even have my husband doing it who told me it was a waste of time) we hardly but out much black bin bag rubbish.

Growing your own Vegetables

See I tried this last year but only managed to grow a cucumber and some herbs, my mother on the other hand split half her garden into her vegetable and fruit patch and grew so much, loads of leeks (I love leeks), but this year I am going to grown my own carrots, potatoes and leeks plus the normal amount of herbs, I’ll have to update you about this later in the year. I think growing your own vegetables doesn’t take a lot of work but it is so pleasing to see them grow even for me growing anything makes me happy and I suck at gardening in general, I get the husband to do it for me. Even if you don’t’ have a garden just a small balcony you could grow new potatoes in big pots.

General Tips

• Don’t over fill the kettle
• Don’t waste food
• Bulk cook where you can
• Make your own lunches
• Re-use items where you can
• Turn the lights off when you leave a room
• Re-use packaging
• Use energy efficient
• Only wash full loads this goes for the washing machine, dishwasher and the tumble dyer

Next week I am covering female products and make-up Sorry I haven’t been around so much uni has me all tied up.