Are Dishwashers Good for the Environment?
Dear EarthTalk: Is it more environmentally friendly to hand-wash dishes or to use a dishwasher? Jennifer Furnari, Sonora, CA Dishwashers are the way to go if you comply with two simple criteria. Run a dishwasher only when it s full, and don t rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. So says John Morril of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, who also advises not using the dry cycle. The water used in most dishwashers is hot enough, he says, to evaporate quickly if the door is left open after the wash and rinse cycles are complete. Dishwashers More Efficient Than Hand Washing Scientists at the University of Bonn [pdf] in Germany who studied the issue found that the dishwasher uses only half the energy
