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Zoey Morton
Joined: Dec 17, 2013
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Country: United Kingdom
Province/State: Portsmouth
City: Portsmouth
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Washing Hands in Hot Water Wastes Energy, Study Says
Dec 17, 2013
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It doesn’t kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the U.S. burns
carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
“People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far
higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent
to the fuel use of a small country.” – National Geographic
It's cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you
think you know about hand washing, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. Chances are good that
how you clean up is not helping you stay healthy; it is helping to make the planet sick. Amanda R.
Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment in
Tennessee, told National Geographic that hand washing is often "a case where people act in ways that
they think are in their best interest, but they in fact have inaccurate beliefs or outdated
perceptions."
In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an adverse effect on hygiene. "Warmer water can
irritate the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less
resistant to bacteria," said Carrico. Using hot water to wash hands is therefore unnecessary, as
well as wasteful, Carrico said, particularly when it comes to the environment. According to her
research, people use warm or hot water 64 percent of the time when they wash their hands. Using that
number, Carrico's team calculated a significant impact on the planet. (See related “Quiz: What You
Don’t Know About Climate Change Science.”)
That's roughly equal to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants, or 1,250,000 passenger
vehicles, over the course of a year. It's higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small
countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is about equivalent to the emissions of Barbados. If all
U.S. citizens washed their hands in cooler water, it would be like eliminating the energy-related
carbon emissions of 299,700 U.S. homes, or the total annual emissions from the U.S. zinc or lead
industries. (See related, "Six Stealthy Energy Hogs: Are They Lurking In Your Home?"
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Farhad
Joined: Jun 13, 2008
Posts: 765 (view all)
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Gender & Age: Male, 68
Country: Iran
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Re: Washing Hands in Hot Water Wastes Energy, Study Says
Mar 21, 2014
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Excellent points and arguments Morton. The same issues are witnessed in other parts of our planet.
In the cold regions almost like the United States.
It is exactly the opposite in the hot rich regions. In those areas like Dubai and Qatar unnatural
growth is causing large environmental foot prints. Something overlooked and ignored by Westerners
due to their participation in the related growth.
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Farhad
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