Hot water is something that we use every day, we constantly rely it for laundry, personal hygiene and food hygiene, but the way we use water can have a huge impact into our carbon footprint.

As students, we don’t always have control over how efficient our household appliances are, and during the corona virus pandemic we rely more on our household to provide entertainment and comfort, more conscious usage of water can help negate the damage we cause.

Household water usage accounts for around 6% of all CO2 emissions in the UK. In the US, the energy requirements to move, treat and use water for residential and commercial purposes produces around 290 million metric tonnes of CO2 every year, around 5% of the nations overall carbon emissions. It is clear that water usage is a significant contributor to a nations emissions.

The majority of household emissions around water usage stems from the energy needed to heat water in the home, around 46% for a typical gas boiler, about 17% of emissions are linked to dishwashers, and 11% from washing machines. We can significantly reduce our usage by ensuring the dishwasher or washing machine are full when they are used, instead of doing several smaller washes which use the same amount of energy but would be used multiple times. It should be noted that a dishwasher is often less energy intensive than handwashing in a sink, with one US study suggesting it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72% compared to hand washing, by ensuring we use dishwashers efficiently we can further our impacts. When dishwashers aren’t available, washing up bowls can save about 666kg of CO2 every year according to one analysis.

While students can’t always make the best environmental choices, due to renting, limited time, and financial factors, the small things we can control make a significant impact. For more advice and information about your journeys into sustainability, be sure to follow our social media, and stay tuned to our blogs for more advice like this.  

by Dan Johnson, SGO Project Officer #actingtogether