This summer could be magic- for your wallet!
Well, summer is definitely here and even though it’s still technically spring, I think Mother Nature has decided to bypass spring and go straight to Summer without passing “Go” or collecting R200! (my apologies to Monopoly).
Summer is the timer of sun, fun, sport, holidays and showers.
Yes, gone are the night time winter baths and arrived are the hot brisk showers that we all love and enjoy.
Let’s face it, there are very few simple pleasures in the world that compare with having a really great shower! The hot water cascading down our back, the flow of the water over our heads…showers are awesome!
Now is the time to think a little more about those showers we love , whether it’s the soft flowing light drizzle shower or the Highveld Thunderstorm back massage shower!
There is a dark side to showers though and that is that regardless of what type of shower you like, our showers use (and often WASTE) both electricity and water and here is a way you can save on both.
How much could those showers cost you?
Some time ago energy and water saving shower heads were introduced in an effort to save huge amounts of water that run wasted down the drain during a shower.
Many argue that they don’t use as much water showering as bathing , well, let’s see about that.
A standard shower head bought from any store will run about 2o Litres per minute , so in a 5 minute shower that’s 100 litres of water and, if we break that down to hot and cold water , we could say that round 40% of that is hot water and 60% cold water.
In a 100 litre (5 minute) shower , you would use 40 litres of hot water and 60 litres of cold water – that’s just you.
Now let’s throw in your better half and the two kids as well.
If all of you had a 5 minute shower, you would use 160 litres of hot water and 240 litres of cold water.
Does your bath take 400 litres?
I thought not.
Let’s take this one step further – if you have a 200 litre geyser, by the time you have all finished showering , that geyser would need to heat up 160 litres of cold water to around 60°C.
That takes A LOT of electricity!
If that took 2 hours to do using a standard 4000w element (4kw) that would use 8 kWh.
PER SHOWER.
Once a day is 240 kWh per month and twice a day is well..480 Kwh per month.
At R1-20 per kWh , that’s R576-00 per month – JUST FOR SHOWERS!
In Co2 terms that’s almost HALF A TON OF CO2 you would be pumping into the atmosphere! Over 12 months , 6 tons of CO2!
Just from your shower!
That doesn’t include hot water for dishes, baths and cleaning – not to mention all that wasted water!
Enjoy the same shower with HALF the water and power.
Ok, the goal here is not to make you feel guilty(well, maybe a little) but to draw a picture as to what showering can cost in terms of electricity and water.
Would you feel better if you ALL could have the same shower at HALF the cost?
Instead of using 20 litres per minute, you could only use 10?
Ahhh…yes, much better.
Not only would you use less water and electricity , but you could enjoy that shower guilt free knowing that you are making an environmental difference by using less C02.
Here is the best part , from just R145-00 , you can cut your water usage in your shower BY 50% using an energy and water saving shower head.
Saving Energy has a superb range of energy saving shower heads to match all tastes, styles and budgets and you can see them here and you get the SAME pressure as you would with the shower head you have now – just using HALF THE WATER!
If that doesn’t appeal to you, then maybe put all 4 of you in the shower at once?