at the time of reduce expenses at the end of the month And with the prices of many supplies skyrocketing, anything we can do at home to save on electricity, gas and water consumption is always welcome.
Turning off the lights and equipment that we do not use, monitoring the times in which we turn on the devices that consume the most, controlling the temperature of the heating to the millimeter or knowing the price of electricity each day are some of the ideas that many of us have already put into practice. practice.
But it may also have crossed our minds the idea of stop using some appliances to try to save a little more energy, the dishwasher being one of the most controversial ones in this regard. Is it cheaper to wash dishes by hand or by machine? Let’s see what various studies say about it.
Machine wash, much more efficient in water consumption
Although it may seem that the dishwasher is an appliance for “gentlemen” who do not want to bother washing by hand, reality shows us that they are very efficient machines capable of achieving significant savings in electricity and water at home.
For example, according to this interesting study carried out by the Elizabeth II Channel of Madrid, with measurements of washing first by hand and then installing a dishwasher, determined that the consumption of water in the sink if it was washed by hand was an average of 88.8 liters per day, of which 52 correspond to hot water. This consumption is approximately 26 percent of the total for the home.
Once the dishwashers were installed and started up in the homes, this consumption of water in the sink was reduced to 54.2 liters per day, which represent 15.9 percent of total consumption, with 27.4 liters of hot water per day. This assumes that by using a dishwasher a saving of 30.6 liters of water per day was achieved on average, reaching 52 liters of daily savings in homes for large families with 5 inhabitants.
This other study carried out by the University of Bonn in Germany yielded similar results when analyzing the consumption when washing a 12-piece service where an average cost of 103 liters of water if it was done by hand, while with dishwasher used only between 15 and 22 liters depending on whether the program was normal or intensive.
Machine wash, much more efficient in light consumption
Very well, it seems clear that we save water, but what about electricity? How is it possible for a dishwasher to save light if in theory I don’t use anything by hand? The key here is in the energy we need to heat the water. The previous measurements are made with a consumption of hot water, since if we want to wash with cold water, in addition to having hands of steel in winter, we will have to use much more water to eliminate grease and dirt well.
For this reason, the majority of consumers and test subjects used some type of hot water system to wash your dishessuch as an electric water heater or a gas boiler, which in both cases represent an energy expenditure that can be compared to that of a dishwasher.
Thus, the average consumption of a modern dishwasher in terms of electricity is around 1 kWh (typically between 0.9 and 1.1 kWh) if we use a ECO mode And depending on the brands. And, what is the equivalent consumption of heating the water needed to wash by hand? Well, for example, the study from the University of Bonn estimated it at about 2.5 kWh for each wash, so if we subtract from this amount the typical cost of a dishwasher we have a excess consumption of 1.5 kWh.
In the case of the Canal de Isabel II study, we have a similar conclusion, since, according to what they say, the improvement in the use of energy was about 1.06 kilowatt hours per day in favor of the dishwasher, due to the reduction in the volume of hot water used.
What does this mean in a whole year of use? Well, if, for example, we put the dishwasher on once a day and we consider that saving of 1.06 kWh per wash, we have a saving annual total of about 387 kWhwhich translated into euros with an average electricity price of €0.20/kWh gives us a not insignificant figure of 77.38 euros per year of energy savings for washing using the dishwasher, an amount to which must be added the cost of water that we have also saved.
at the time of reduce expenses at the end of the month And with the prices of many supplies skyrocketing, anything we can do at home to save on electricity, gas and water consumption is always welcome.
Turning off the lights and equipment that we do not use, monitoring the times in which we turn on the devices that consume the most, controlling the temperature of the heating to the millimeter or knowing the price of electricity each day are some of the ideas that many of us have already put into practice. practice.
But it may also have crossed our minds the idea of stop using some appliances to try to save a little more energy, the dishwasher being one of the most controversial ones in this regard. Is it cheaper to wash dishes by hand or by machine? Let’s see what various studies say about it.
Machine wash, much more efficient in water consumption
Although it may seem that the dishwasher is an appliance for “gentlemen” who do not want to bother washing by hand, reality shows us that they are very efficient machines capable of achieving significant savings in electricity and water at home.
For example, according to this interesting study carried out by the Elizabeth II Channel of Madrid, with measurements of washing first by hand and then installing a dishwasher, determined that the consumption of water in the sink if it was washed by hand was an average of 88.8 liters per day, of which 52 correspond to hot water. This consumption is approximately 26 percent of the total for the home.
Once the dishwashers were installed and started up in the homes, this consumption of water in the sink was reduced to 54.2 liters per day, which represent 15.9 percent of total consumption, with 27.4 liters of hot water per day. This assumes that by using a dishwasher a saving of 30.6 liters of water per day was achieved on average, reaching 52 liters of daily savings in homes for large families with 5 inhabitants.
This other study carried out by the University of Bonn in Germany yielded similar results when analyzing the consumption when washing a 12-piece service where an average cost of 103 liters of water if it was done by hand, while with dishwasher used only between 15 and 22 liters depending on whether the program was normal or intensive.
Machine wash, much more efficient in light consumption
Very well, it seems clear that we save water, but what about electricity? How is it possible for a dishwasher to save light if in theory I don’t use anything by hand? The key here is in the energy we need to heat the water. The previous measurements are made with a consumption of hot water, since if we want to wash with cold water, in addition to having hands of steel in winter, we will have to use much more water to eliminate grease and dirt well.
For this reason, the majority of consumers and test subjects used some type of hot water system to wash your dishessuch as an electric water heater or a gas boiler, which in both cases represent an energy expenditure that can be compared to that of a dishwasher.
Thus, the average consumption of a modern dishwasher in terms of electricity is around 1 kWh (typically between 0.9 and 1.1 kWh) if we use a ECO mode And depending on the brands. And, what is the equivalent consumption of heating the water needed to wash by hand? Well, for example, the study from the University of Bonn estimated it at about 2.5 kWh for each wash, so if we subtract from this amount the typical cost of a dishwasher we have a excess consumption of 1.5 kWh.
In the case of the Canal de Isabel II study, we have a similar conclusion, since, according to what they say, the improvement in the use of energy was about 1.06 kilowatt hours per day in favor of the dishwasher, due to the reduction in the volume of hot water used.
What does this mean in a whole year of use? Well, if, for example, we put the dishwasher on once a day and we consider that saving of 1.06 kWh per wash, we have a saving annual total of about 387 kWhwhich translated into euros with an average electricity price of €0.20/kWh gives us a not insignificant figure of 77.38 euros per year of energy savings for washing using the dishwasher, an amount to which must be added the cost of water that we have also saved.