Taking cold showers. Does this help the environment?

Think of ways to conserve water.

 

(why don't emoticons count for one character? )

 

welll hot water opens the pores, allows cell waste to drain...(to a point)...helps you feel more invigorated.

the cold water for the last minute closes the pores. supposed to reduce your body's intake of air pollution....albeit, most dont run out of the shower and into the streets right away and MOST houses, the air pollution is generally lower than outside...

but studies do show that not blasting the cold at the end of the shower can cause pores to stay open as long as 30 minutes. more than enough time to be dressed and on the way to work. in fact, from time i get out of shower, 30 minutes later, i am pulling into work... (advantages of a 15 minute commute!!)

 

Solar heated hot water, in almost any climate is the one of the cheapest RE installation you can do. From simple batch heaters, evacuated tubes, all coupled to a demand water heater can cut your water heat cost to almost nothing.

Icarus

 

sooo... its how much cheaper to pump cold water verses hot water?

 

It never ceases to amaze me how often this point gets lost on people. There should be much more emphasis on solar water heating, at least here in the west where it really should be building code. All new construction should have it installed (I bet the costs would be even lower if it were incorporated into the initial construction) and retrofits should be encouraged. We use a lot of NG in this country and we could make substantial cuts by using the sun to reduce or erase the load on our water heaters.

 

If you have the "best" part of your roof covered with PV panels,,congrats. (I would question whether you should have done hot water at the same time) On the other hand, solar hot water is less affected by partial shading issues that dramatically affect PV. The are also more tolerant of being "off kilter" to the best solar position.

Also, there is no reason why one would have to confine your PV or your hot water to roof area. In many climates (and Latittudes) there are many other available spots, including fences, free standing units, wall faces etc.
You just have to think out of the box a bit.

I agree with Tripp that we should be doing way more. It is cheap and cost effective in most climates. Even simple batch type water heaters coupled to a demand L/P or Nat. Gas water heater can cut down on energy use greatly. Lobby your local building authority to mandate these changes, and make the change yourselves.

Icarus

PS We also should lobby congress and the candidates for REAL energy policy reforms, not the song and dance we live with now! If Solar received even a small fraction of the subsidy that petro gets, both for R&D as well as consumer installations, we would be way farther ahead. We also have to go to time of day pricing for electricity, as well as true net metering. In some parts of the country, selling power from a PV back to the grid at time of high demand relates well to the time (generally) of peak PV production. Selling to the grid at high demand, and buying back residential loads at times of low demand and lower KWH pricing makes it more affordable to all,, the consumer get a faster payoff, and the utility gets whole series of smaller generating stations way cheaper than they can build them themselves. It is a win/win all the way around. We need to make that happen in every jurisdiction, and with every utility. A more diverse generating capacity makes it much harder for the grid to go down due to one random failure as well. ( A bit off topic, but so what!)

 

What is the temperature of your cold tap water?

I'll have to find a thermometer to measure ours tonight, and see if it has risen out of the 50s yet.

As is usual this time of year, unprepared swimmers are still drowning in the lakes not because they can't swim, but because of disabling cramping brought on by unexpectedly cold water.

 

I usually finish my shower with turning the temp down to 'rather cool'.

 

Our cold tap water will freeze the balls off of a brass monkey.

Tom

 

We're on a private well with the water coming up at around 40 degrees this time of year, so no thanks, the tankless water heater will heat it before I jump in it.

 

last night i took a shower that started at "luke warm" and ended up straight cold. the fact that it was 87º at 9:30 PM probably contributed a lot to that.

i was not going to put the A/C in this year, but with temps expected to be in the upper 90's today, i may change my mind.

 

Cold Showers:
Environment saved. I end up having to wash less sheets.



.

 

LOL!!!

well that is one way to look at it except that in winter, i take a shower once a day about 70% of the time. in the Summer, i take a shower AT LEAST twice a day just about 100% of the time. so what we save in hot water costs, we spend in extra water usage during a time when the reservoirs are low.

 

low flow shower head (6L/min) and an R11 water heater blanket. That and relatively short showers. Wish we had grey water storage so that I could water the lawn with this water. Of course, with temps in the 60's and rain things are doing OK. Gotta love the schitso weather in CO!