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posted by martyb on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the read-this-while-having-a-nice,-hot-cup-of-tea dept.

Phys.org:

When you hear about businesses with a high environmental impact or activities with a high carbon footprint, you are probably more likely to imagine heavy machinery, engines and oil rather than hairdressing. Yet hairdressing, both as a sector and as an individual activity, can have a massive carbon footprint.

Hairdressing uses high levels of hot water, energy and chemicals. Similarly, in our homes, heating hot water is typically the most energy intensive activity. For the cost of a ten-minute shower that uses an electric immersion heater, you could leave a typical television on for 20 hours.

So while it helps to turn lights and appliances off, the real gains in terms of reducing energy usage are in slashing our use of hot water. A quarter of UK emissions are residential and, of those, the vast majority come from running hot water. The longer it runs and the hotter it is, the more energy intensive (and costly) it is.

Mostly the hot water used carries a high carbon footprint, but the chemicals in shampoo don't help either.


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  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:54AM (3 children)

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @09:54AM (#800001) Journal

    I think the Army, Navy and Air Force might have been on to something.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:11AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:11AM (#800005) Journal

    I think the Army, Navy and Air Force might have been on to something.

    Yes. Specifically on to the lice, which may be a vector for heaps of infectious diseases, typhus and plague included.
    Military haircuts is not a recently acquired style and military regulations aren't the fastest thing to evolve.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday February 13 2019, @01:12AM (1 child)

      by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday February 13 2019, @01:12AM (#800420) Homepage Journal

      Specifically, a surgeon and a Captain for the US Army Air Forces during World War II.

      I inherited from my grandfather the text "Rats, Lice And History". It's all about how the course of history is often determined by such public health problems as the outbreak of Cholera among one of the opposing armies in a crucial battle.

      During the Siege Of Stalingrad, the Germans _attempted_ to supply their troops via air, but the Soviets knew damn well what would become of Mother Russia were Stalingrad's air defense not adequately lethal.

      Just _one_ German transport plane landed safely. It's cargo?

      • Black Pepper
      • Condoms

      You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up.

      --
      Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 13 2019, @02:29AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 13 2019, @02:29AM (#800444) Journal

        I inherited from my grandfather the text "Rats, Lice And History".

        Out of copyright - PDF scan here [wordpress.com]

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford