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Power Shower Featured on Apr 10, 2008
Challenge
Knock 2 minutes off your daily shower time. Use a timer to stay honest!
Individual Result
Reducing your shower from 8 minutes to 6 for one month will reduce your CO2 emissions by a total of 15.3 lbs.
Rally Impact
3678 people have reduced CO2 emissions by 24.99 tons by completing this challenge so far. That's equal to turning off the electricity of 24 homes for about 1 month!
Challenge Details
For the older Rallyers on the network, the pleading commercial refrain of “Calgon, take me away!” brings to mind idyllic thoughts of a suds-filled bathtub where cares melt away and time itself stands still. Well, that was then and this is now. Thirty years later, it’s the daily shower that fulfills the same type of therapeutic relief for many of us. It’s the shower that calms us down and lets us focus our thoughts before we strap on the battle armor to take on another day. The problem is, your long morning shower has a big, wet carbon footprint.
This Featured Challenge was suggested by lawhoo2001, leader of the Paco’s RIC Carbon Fighters. To date, lawhoo2001’s suggestion has received 10 positive votes in the Challenge Workshop. Rally on, you carbon cavalier!
The Carbon Connection
It takes energy to heat your water tank and keep it hot. As you use hot water, more energy is needed as cold water is piped in to replenish the tank. The energy used by the hot water tank likely comes from electricity or by burning natural gas. And unless your electricity is coming from a renewable source like wind or solar, heating the water in your tank is inextricably linked to the burning of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases.
According to the EPA, running a hot water faucet for 5 minutes uses about the same amount of energy as burning a 60-watt bulb for 14 hours. So, limiting your demand for heated water can really cut-down your energy use and CO2 emissions.
Getting It Done
We know it’s hard to keep track of time while you’re basking warm water, especially in the morning. So, using a timer might be a good way to stay honest on this Challenge. Plus, using a timer means you’ll be keeping track of minutes enough to know you can shower a little longer on those tough mornings and then make up for it with a shorter shower the next day.
There are lots of timer options. You can dig up an old digital watch and leave it in the shower. You can borrow a cooking timer from the kitchen or even buy something basic. (Read the timer label in the store. Egg timers are very simple, but only run for three minutes!)
Do you already take short showers? If you haven’t already, you might want to consider swapping your current shower head for a low-flow type. Like older cars, older shower heads are guzzlers. Pre-1992 shower heads can use twice the water of current ones. If you’re not sure whether or not your shower head is a “guzzler,” you can cut the top off a gallon container and time how long it takes for your shower head to fill up the container. If it fills up in less than 20 seconds, you should consider buying a new, low-flow shower head. The newest models use only 1 to 2 gallons of water per minute.
Rules of the Challenge
This Challenge asks you reduce your daily shower time by two minutes. On average, that means reducing your shower duration from 8 minutes to 6 minutes. Taking a shorter shower each day for 30 days will reduce your CO2 emissions by 15.3 lbs for the month. This Challenge is repeatable.
Learn More
The Energy Diet, NY Times
Water Conservation Tips
Low-flow shower heads
See the Math
Here are the key assumptions we made in creating this Challenge:
- In the United States, the average shower time is 8 minutes.
- The average shower of 8 minutes uses 12 gallons of water with an older style shower head and 10 gallons with a low-flow head. We averaged this to 11 gallons of water per 8 minute shower.
- We assume you are showering once daily.
- Heating 1 gallon of water generates, on average, 0.18 lbs of CO2.
- Reducing an 8 minute shower by 2 minutes is a 25% reduction in time and water volume. A shorter shower decrease hot water use by 2.75 gallons per daily shower.
- Not using that 2.75 gallons of hot water (and thereby not heating 2.75 extra gallons of water) translates into 0.51 lbs of CO2 saved per day.
- Repeating this savings for 30 days results in a total CO2 reduction of 15.3 lbs for the month.
Speed it up, Rallyers! And keep it clean.
Discuss Power Shower:
Anyone who has ever served in the US Navy should might be doing this out of habit anyways. For everyone who has ever been out to sea for 6+ months just think back to the great times that you were on water hours and this should be no problem.
Ooh…showers are so my weak spot, especially in the cold dark winter mornings. Twenty minute showers are my guilty pleasures! How do you people do two minute showers? That is incredible!
I used to turn off the water when i soaped my hair and body, but lately I’ve been getting lazy. Even then I usually time under 5 minutes, I think I’m going to try and turn off the water again….
That is such a great idea, Thank You! :)
I now take 2 minute showers!
hey!! go oak leavess
so yea cool….i don’t shower
I am doing it every time I shower its great and fast, good for saving CO2 emissions.
who takes 15 minute shower??? 2-3 minutes, or even less is MY goal. Go Nintendo123!!!
Hello my name is the carbon reaper and I will be sure to keep my carbon low as possoble if anyone wants to join my own team go ahead and join if posible thanks have great day fellow carbon ralley companions Carbon Reaper out.
we take showers in 30 seconds now!
we love ourselves!
Lol. I rock. You drool. And I take 3-5 minutes to bathe! Boo yeah!
WOW!! Since last year I have reduced my shower time from 40-50 min (I know!!) But now I’m down to 10-15 minutes. I shampoo, then rinse and then apply my conditioner. mine calls to leave it in for a while so during that time i shave and everything else. each time I take the challenge I try to cut it down even more. :] Its hard but thats why its called a CHALLENGE
Gosh, I don’t know if I would be able to cut down my shower time! I’ll give it a try though for the environment!
I am going to cut down on my shower! Let’s save energy and save the world!!!
I’m working on cutting my showers down from 2x a day to once a day (I know…I have really oily skin.) I’m making pretty good progress, although I still shower extra if I’ve been at the gym or working out. But I took a bit step back on cutting my time (which was down to 5 minutes!) when I switched to solid shampoo. You really have to work harder to rinse this stuff out of your hair and lather it in in the first place. I might be switching back to liquid soon (EO, an eco-friendly liquid…I plan on refilling it with the gallon jugs if it works well) but if I don’t, I’ll have to figure a way to make this work faster. Right now I’m trying to rinse my hair while doing other stuff at the same time, like wash my face and soap up my front.
Just bought a shower timer! I think that’s the only way to get my time down.
I’d like to take a navy shower, but it’s just TOO COLD!!!! I have the heat off still (it’s Sept as of this writing.) I’m going to get a space heater to put in front of me while I write (so I can keep the heat lower throughout the whole house)...maybe when I get one I’ll try putting the space heater in the BR while I take my shower and taking a shower that way. Hopefully it will keep the bathroom warm enough that I can stand to have the water off.
This makes sense. Now if I could only get everyone else in my house to do it!
I’ve always taken quick showers, but will trim some time off. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth too!
This is something I was already doing. I have reduced it more by take Navy showers.(meaning I turn off the water while soaping up)
okay, yeah i am really guilty for tha 20 minute showers! but this new information and my already inherent love for the earth will make me change my sinful ways! lol so bring it on!
My showers are way too long, but I think that’s the result of years of living with “WATER HOURS” and now I’ve just been selfish! This one is easy so I accept the challange!
Marine-Green
i just took that challenge, and i’m down from about 13 minutes to 8 minutes and 5 seconds! tip: only shampoo the top of your head and let gravity get the shampoo everywhere else. tip: some conditioners require you to wait 2-3 minutes before rinsing. do something else while you wait, like shaving. 40-50 minute showers are NOT necessary people! they can be cut down with only a few simple steps.
I share a shower with 4 other people. My showers never exceed 5 minutes. Get in clean yourself, get out. Thats a rule around here. Its called a water bill. Who has money to take 15 minute showers? Gluttons, thats who. I might sound cheap, but I’d rather save this planet.
i cut my showers down from about 15 minutes to six. not only did I cut my carbon emissions, but the gas bill went down 7 dollars in one month
this is going to be hard because i take 40-50 min. shower
Like other people who have commented, I have gone the route turning of turning off the shower in the middle. In terms of water usage, it turns out to be a very short shower. I turn on the the shower on to get wet, then turn it off to shampoo and otherwise soap up, and then turn it back on to rinse and then off it goes. I once traveled overseas where there were no shower heads, just a “bucket shower” which is basically the same thing I am doing now. For a bucket shower, you dump a bucket of water over your head to get wet, soap up, and then dump a bucket or two over your head to rinse off.
This is going to be REALLY HARD! REALLY!! I LOVE my shower, but I will do it.
Actually, I take a shower only every other day, and a short one at that, so I can’t be too proud of myself.
So, showers in my world last 4.8 minutes right now. My water bill is small. I like!!!
oh god im really bad on average i take 30 minute showers with a showerhead made in 1999. and the reason im bad is cause i know that i can take 5-15 minute showers cause i have when im in a hurry to go to a prty or somwhere i need to be clean. but then i might be kinda averaging it out cause usualy i might take a shower every other day if i feel like it but know during summer i haven’t taken a shower for maybe twice a week or so at the most the last one i took was on saturday the 19th three days ago so yeah i think in the end it averages it out for while i do take a shower it’s 30 minutes but so thats for three days and so yeah i take one shower every three days but in that one day i take a shower i use the same amount of water as if i would take a ten minute shower every day so yeah i guess in the end i average out but what if on that one day i reduced my water consumption for the three days water i use so if i use three days water rather than reducin 2 minutes reduce 6 minutes so take 20 minute showers? how about that? would that be a good idea?
I am NOTORious for taking a 1/2 hr shower. However, I’ve battled it thusly : I drop the temperature of the water by adjusting only the spigot and taking a much cooler shower. Sure, there are times when I NEED a hot shower, but a cooler shower in the summer cools the body and a cooler shower in the winter fights that “dry skin” issue that I always get with Wood heat or even the propane that I now have to use.
ohh i am prob the worse i take 30 to 40 min showers i an gonna try to get it down to 10 to 15 mins at least try i will even be happy with 20 mins
Another suggestion for people is to turn off the water while you put on you conditioner, shampoo, etc.
i used to take 10 minutes shower. Maybe i can cut the time to 7~8 minutes.
man i take super long showers..
this my first shower and im gonna set my alarm on my phone for 5 min.. then two mins longer while a really step it up.. here goes
Te tips are great. I usually take like 20 to 25 minute shows. Now I am really trying to stick to 10 to 15 minutes showers( and still trying to reduce). If you have water that stays warm turn it off to shave, shampoo, and condition and you will not be wasting as much water. If your water takes time to warm keep it on, so that you are not waiting for the water to warm again you will end up wasting more water than before.
is it okay for yu not to shower every day?? like yu cud skip ONE day becuz yu stayed at home all day and then yu cud showeer the next day??
Thanks to Green_Home_Guru, I’m now taking one minute Navy showers that are just as effective as the 15-20 minute showers I used to take. Thanks for the tip!
Dude, I used to take, reeeeaaaallllyyy long showers (Honestly- up to an hour and a half! OCD- Need to be clean) But, after reading an article in a textbook at school, I started to shorten the length of time in there… After a little over a year, I’m down to five minutes to about eight- Tops.
This is not that hard to do. In my prior life before becoming an engineer and Head Guru at www.greenhomeguru.net, I was in the U.S. Navy. I learned a skill (requirement) on the ship called taking a Navy shower. Because of the need to desalinize the water on the ship, wasteful water usage was extremely discouraged. A Navy shower consists of turning the water on for about 15 seconds to get wet. You then shampoo and soap up and rinse off in about 45 more seconds. 1 Shower = 1 Minute of Water Usage.
i take showers of about 30 minutes.. and i really didn’t realize that it was long. but i seriously doubt i could shampoo and condition my hair and wash myself in 10 minutes.. NOpe i can’t.. but two minutes doesnt seem too bad
I take cold 5 minute showers evey day
I usually take really long showers – like 45 minutes. And now I am taking 10 to 15 minute showers, so I am saving a lot more than what it says. :)
my showers are way longer than 8 minutes so my goal is to get them down to 10 minutes and start taking cooler showers. I hear the best temperature (read from a beauty magazine) is below 80 F around 72 F. Everyone should keep that in mind to reduce carbon and to stay beautiful
This is my first challenge. My showers are not really long now, but I can make them shorter.
Another great way to reduce the water used, is to turn it off when you don’t use it. Like lathering your hair and body for example. I learned this while I was in Mexico. If you only turn the water on to rinse, you will use a LOT less.
clean clean but fast lol
My daughter and I are tackling our first challenge. She is 12 and thinks she takes about 5 minute showers. She came up with the idea of turning the water off between steps. We will also check the upstairs shower head to see if it is low-flow. If not, we will replace that this weekend.
I am going to time tomorrow, and then cut 2 minutes off after that. And we will test my shower head this weekend.
The trick in our house will be to get her 15 year old brother to take a shorter shower! lol
Hehe im proud to say i took an 11minut and 32second shower :D im proud of myself usually i take 15-20minugs :D
ILvSantaCruz That is exactly what I do too, it’s way eaiser. and you get a lot of water too. Everyone look at her comment!
I am down to 5 minute showers with turning the water off between steps and I don’t use a hot water heater! My garage gets so hot in the summer my water is usable shower temp for months without the heater! That saves water usage, CO2 heating the water and saves money for me in the bills!
I have shortened my showers from 30 minutes to 15 minutes in the past few years but i think i can shave (ha no pun intended) 5 minutes off my time.
I have been able to cut my showers back over the last couple of years and I hope to be able to do it again now. Thanks for all the great suggestions about how to figure out just how long I’m in the shower and how to cut it back!
I usually only take 5 minute showers. I don’t have a timer to use in the bathroom. I listen to my iPod on a dock when i shower. So I’m going to find a song I like that is around 3 minutes and when that song goes off it’s time to get out of the shower. :D
My showers are usually 20-30 minutes. I’m going to aim to get rid of 15-20 minutes off of my showers.
This one will be easy for me, I run water for less than five minutes anyway. Why? Cause we’re broke as hell alot and this cuts down on our bill, if it is conserving water as an environmentally friendly side effect is a nice additon!
Hm, excellent idea. I must say I normally did take longer showers not even realizing consequences of it. Will definitely start timing and cut my time down.
ILvSantaCruz, that’s a great idea! I’m going to start doing that. =)
This will be a challenge, cause I love my showers, but at the same time, I could be better. Like not letting the water run when I first get into the bathroom… it’s a bad habit of letting it heat up when I lived in an older house. By not doing that, I could cut 5-6 minutes immediately.
when i take a shower, its also a tub too so i plug it and then use the water from my shower to shave my legs. its a good way to waste less water
Here goes,this is my first challenge!
I already take five minute showers, this shouldn’t be too hard (she hopes).
Honestly, this won’t be too hard for me…I like to shower in the morning and get in and out as quickly as possible. I think turning off the shower while shaving your legs is a great way to cut back…
this sounds easy enough (: i take 10-15 minute showers currently (depending on if i have to shave or not) so this seems like an easy accomplishment (:
This will probably be hard for me, I take 20 minute showers now and it has always been hard for me to cut down my shower time.
I accept this challenge. I just hope it’s easy!
Does taking a shower every other day count? I have a desk job and don’t smell the need until day two. Will work to reduce the overall time anyway.
Also, what about shaving, is manual with water better than electric? I usually let the water run in the sink to wash away the hair and soap well. If I don’t I have to use nasty chemicals to unclog the growth that forms. I’ll take any ideas (except for growing a beard :)
Me and my mom already take short showers. Mine is six minutes while my mom is three minutes.
I hope this isn’t 2 hard!! :)
this’ll be hardd..ill try though. usually i take a 9 or 10 minute shower so ill try to shower in 7 or 8 minutes.
eh. starting this chanllenge not so sure if i can do it. but hey ill try!
this is easy for me because i only take 8 mins. at most.
I can do this challenge! Even though I take extremely long showers right now( 30 minutes) Tomorrow I am going to take a 10 minute one!!! Baby steps to changing the world!
i used to take reeally long showers…but i’ve recently shortened them, as well as turning the temp down and turning off the water while shaving. it helps the hot water to last water, and makes a difference in saving the earth!
I already only take about seven minutes in the shower I think I can handle five
this isnt that hard at all
i am definetely going to do my best to take a shorter shower
Also will reduce the temp. Colder saves heating energy and makes me want to get out the shower quickly.
girls, when you need to shave, fill up about an inch of water in your tub, then turn off the water and use that. it saves money and water!
ok. i’m accepting this challenge because i’m horrible with showers. I take SO MUCH TIME and i know it’s bad, i just don’t really think about it.
First challenge. :D
I’m switching to shaving in the sink to save that time . . I really hope this brings down my electric bill, too.
i already dont take long showers so thins will be a piece of cake.
Well, it’s summer, and I’m not showering everyday (gross, I know).
Time to get back to the days of girl scout camp when we could only have five minute showers twice a week!
I really hope I can do this because it could be such a simple way to do so much! Say buh-bye to two minutes of shower, and hello to my first challenge ever!
i think i can do this. i hope. im going to try thats for sure. i usually try to turn off the water whenever its not in use so i wonder how this turns out.
this is tough for me. i take 15 minute showers daily.
This one is great for me. Believe it or not my apartment has double shower heads and I typically take a long shower. Thankfully I’m an every-other-day showerer rather than daily, but I definitely use more shower water than the average person.
I’m going to make sure I use only one shower head, lower my water temperature, and begin using a timer to reduce my actual showering time. I’m excited – this’ll be a great change!
“The future is bright, wear shades!”
i normally take fast showers and always turn off the water when i am not using it….. but i dont know how i am going to shave in a short amount of time.
Yes. And I’ll close the faucet when I don’t need to use the water.
Yes. And I’ll close the faucet when you don’t need to use the water.
Envirosax sells these very cheap shower timers. You get them free if you buy enough of their sacks, which, by the way, are fantastic:
SAVE THE WORLD!!!!!!!!! IS IT IN YOU
i want to live for more than a while
yEAH GO THE ENVIRONMENT!!
I try to turn it off for everything. Brushing teeth, in between washing my face, doing dishes, stuff like that. I just accepted this challenge. :D woohoo!
oh wow, you’ve got that right! turn that faucet OFF!!! my dad made us do that way back in the 50’s! yep. he was way ahead of his time and he designed a solar home too, blueprints and all, and couldn’t get anyone to listen to him! Wish he was alive now to see what’s happening to the planet.
walk walk walk…. it’s good for ya and the world
Along with this one, make sure you are turning off the water when you brush your teeth. It’s amazing how many people just let the water run!
I loved using a friend’s shower in SF—it had a little switch on the shower head to “pause” water while soaping, shaving etc—then turn it right back on without waiting for temps to adjust.
Also, keep a bucket in shower and catch water while it warms up—then use that water for plants, to flush toilet, etc. Much of the waste is in the warming up time!
When lathering or etc just turn off the shower, you don’t need the water – most people step away from the water anyway – just turn it off… thats what is done in europe – since hot water is kinda scarce in the older buildings.
I thought I took short showers but didn’t know until I actually timed myself. Turned out to be about four and a half minutes. However, this does not include shaving time so with this challenge, I will try to turn off the water while shaving, and turn it back on to rinse.
I’m already fast less than 5 minutes. I am going to set a timer for my kids to get that fast.
I listen to a CD when I shower, and now I am trying to complete my shower routine during the course of one song (this week, it’s been Monkey Man by the Rolling Stones which clocks in at just over 4 minutes).
Easier than I thought. Easy to get it down to 5 minutes, even with shaving! Great idea!
4 minutes. The water was just damp.
yes i finally found the website my friends were talkin abou and about this challenge so im glad i did this challenge
i plan to tell my friends about this >.<
I accept
MIRI: Whoa, varsity power shower action. I made it in 5 mins this AM, still JV.
In at 7:11, out at 7:13, WITH conditioner… and I have a witness.
WITH SUMMER AND LOTS MORE SHOWERS MAKING THEM FASTER HELPS MOVE THINGS ALONG – SEEMS THERE’S ALWAYS SOMEONE WAITING AT THE BEACH.
I already take very short showers…love the challenge!
Soooo easy to do, does it really help to leave the shampoo in for 5 minutes? Think about it and shorten your time!
Let the rally continue as the clock is running!
Head Harvard Greenskeeper
Using a lo-flow shower head (1.5 gal/min; measured), for the past 2+ years, I’ve been averaging between 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per shower.
This is an excellent challenge!
WW
I like to wake up late and take a 3-5 minute shower, never really thought I saved on CO2 emissions. :)
This is definitely a great challange and doable!
So my shower is longer than 8 minutes, but cutting it by 2 minutes will still help!
It is a very good idea, it is not new for me, but I also reduce the water I put in the bath for my kid every night.
I’ve been doing this for awhile for very selfish reasons – to cut down my water bill during a drought. I also checked my water heater temperature (it was too high) and lowered it. The combination saves me about $3 per month and saves all of us about 20 lbs of CO2 a month.
wow,that was fast! Thanks Conflay for leading the charge! Jason
YES I”M THE FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!
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