Don’t bother using soap when doing dishes unless they’re greasy. It’s the hot water that kills the germs, all soap does is bind to the fats so they can be rinsed off. A quick dip and rub in hot water will get non-greasy dishes just as clean. Guaranteed to speed up dishwashing, and saves money on dish soap if you use a dishwasher.
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
At first blush I was shocked, but then I fliped; and then flopped. Here is why:
I’ve done a look at what it costs to wash clothes (thanks to twins in cloth diapers) and for our front loading washer - the cost of detergent is more than the cost of electricity, or water, by far (note I don’t use hot washes).
For dishes I don’t use hot water. We took out our 40 gallon gas fired water heater and put in a 19 gallon electric. We used 19 gallon because you need that size if you want a bath now and then. But for the gas fired heater it was $80/yr to keep the tank warm and $15/yr heating water. With the electric heater we’re about $20/yr keeping the tank warm and $60/yr heating water.
The water heater is set on “vaction” or 49C. So - it’s impossible to get water out of our pipes that could ever scald anyone.
My spouse, and several friends are biochemists. If you want to kill germs - 49C water will not do it. Boiling hot water will not do it. You use an autoclave - steam at temperatures above boiling.
“Hot” water in a sink isn’t killing anything except your skin!
Use some soap! Use bleach if you’re worried about germs.
The cost of hot water exceeds the cost of soap for dishes.
We eat a whole food, low fat, vegetarian / vegan diet. That already greatly reduces the grease and makes washing dishes a lot easier.
For the curious. Here is some data from my family:
gas fired water heater was about $100/yr
gas fired furnace (low efficiency) was about $700/yr in gas
gas fired high-eff furnace uses $240/yr of gas
So - heating water in our home now represents about 1/4 of our total heating costs!
Looking at family GHG’s (Green House Gases) figure on:
1/3 is food (much better now that we’re veg/vegan and eating local, minimally processed foods)
1/3 transportation (we walk and bike when possible and got the most fuel efficient for the minimal driving we do - Toyota Echo)
1/3 home (heating water and air and electricity) - we’ve unplugged the vampires and simplified what we have - the TV is buried in the basement and rarely used ..
But if you want to make a difference on your impact on the planet:
1) go after those 3 meals a day - improve your health and the planet
2) go after what you drive - ideally don’t drive
3) get a smaller home or apt and upgrade it from an energy standpoint
We have a 1,500 sq-ft home but find it too big for a family of four.
Friends from EcoVillage Ithaca found a 1,200 sq-ft home a bit big for a family of four.
Comment by Eric — January 26, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
Very interesting… first of all, I think there are several different Rebeccas posting to this site (this wasn’t my post). NO wonder we’re all so confused!
So… I don’t use the dish washer anymore, except for the few times a year that I’m totally overwhelmed with life, the universe and everything. And it’s not totally for altruistic environmental reasons either. I just think that the thing doesn’t really get anything clean! I know they say that it uses less water than doing it by hand, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how this could possibly be true unless you just let the water run the whole time you are hand washing. Plus… it uses hot water and it re-heats the water… what about all that electricity?
I find that when I do the dishes by hand I usually have them done before the water even gets warm (I know I should insulate the pipes, but I really don’t want to tear all of the walls out to do it). I can’t use straight cold water or my hands go numb and I get a migraine. For soap I use a mixture of baking soda, borax and a little powdered dish washing soap (I bought a bunch on sale many years ago and I fear I have enough to last until the next millenium!)
And here’s the other thing… I think it takes less time to do them by hand. I know they say you don’t have to pre-rinse in these modern dish washers… but seriously… has anybody tried that? I find that I have to re-wash half of the stuff by hand anyhow when I do it that way. So… if you figure all the time it takes to pre-rinse, load and unload. It’s just so much easier to do them by hand.
That’s my take!
Comment by Rebecca — January 27, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
As a microbiologist, I would like to comment on the assumption that “soap doesn’t kill germs, hot water does”. Soap kills bacteria in the same way that it cuts grease. It acts to make the fats more mixable with water. Bacteria have an outer layer that is made up of a type of fat. When the soap disrupts the fats in that layer, the bacteria die. As has already been stated, water has to be hotter than your heater will make it to kill bacteria. You may still choose to give up soap, but don’t be misled about the benefits of using it.
Comment by AKB — February 16, 2011 @ 5:06 pm