More than 30% of US homes do not have dishwashers, making it one of the least-used major appliances, according to the EIA. On top of that, almost 20% of those who do own a dishwasher refuse to use it. This is a huge oversight on behalf of US citizens, as dishwashers save water, energy, and emit less CO2.

Some environmentalists prefer to hand wash their dishes because they think it saves energy, but in reality, using a dishwasher is better for the environment in the vast majority of cases. Since dishwashers operate in a small space and can clean multiple dishes at once, its water usage is much smaller, using an estimated 16,300 gallons in a life cycle opposed to the 34,200 consumed when hand washing. Of course, some hand washing methods are better than others, so water usage varies. One method even rivals dishwashing, in which two tubs of water are used, a hot one to sit and scrub and a cold one to rinse. Generally, though, it’s more efficient to use a dishwasher, and this is also the case for carbon emissions. With typical dishwashing methods, hand washing results in about 2.7 times more kg CO2 emissions than using a machine dishwasher.

One thing that should be noted for dishwasher-users is that it is best to simply scrape off food from a dish and load it, instead of rinsing, scrubbing, or further cleaning before putting it in the dishwasher. It uses less water, electricity, and time, and as long as the dishwasher is being used properly, the dishes should be clean when the cycle is over. However, it is not as easy as it may seem to properly use a dishwasher.

I was dismayed to find very little online about how much electricity a dishwasher uses, because it isn’t entirely clear if its electricity use is more or less efficient than hand washing. It definitely saves human energy, but since that’s a subjective measurement, I wanted to find an indicator with more substance.

I’ve been wanting to write this article for a while, but I was especially motivated to when my cousin, the one who encouraged me to start this blog to begin with, mentioned a video about dishwashers, how they work, how to properly use them, and his hatred for dissolvable pods. I discovered that dishwashers should be able to clean their contents without any prior washing or rinsing, which is a philosophy my house does not subscribe to. I realized that the soap we use, how much we use, and the cycles we pick might impact our dishwasher’s cleaning abilities, and I intend to focus on that and perhaps more dishwashery details in next week’s Synopsis. Stay tuned to learn with me!

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=31692#

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ab716b