Photo of a tap with running into a basin. Photo: Unsplash

Save more than money by turning off the hot tap

Here’s an interesting fact from Scientific American:

Running hot water at a sink for five minutes uses the same amount of energy as burning a 60-watt lightbulb for 14 hours.

I did a test at home using an electricity monitor I bought and found that after running the hot tap for about 20 seconds, the monitor registered an increase in my household electricity usage of about 1,800 watts for 2 minutes. That means my electric geyser had switched on for 2 minutes.

Electricity in South Africa is mostly generated by carbon-belching coal-fired power stations. Save electricity and lower your carbon footprint by being mindful of the amount of hot water you use. Make sure your hot taps are switched off properly and don’t use hot water for things like washing your hands or rinsing dishes when cold water will do the job just as well.

Notebook

This article was updated for editorial style and to add links and a new image on 7 July 2023. It was originally published on 29 January 2009.


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