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from the read-this-while-having-a-nice,-hot-cup-of-tea dept.
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.
(Score: 2) by aim on Tuesday February 12 2019, @10:31AM (4 children)
A couple of thoughts about washing hair / this blurb:
* electric heating isn't necessarly the most carbon-friendly variant of heating, unless those electrons get pushed by nuclear power plants or renewables. I replaced the electric boilers by one connected to the highly efficient central natural gas heater - which also saves some money. Insulation on the warm water tubes also helps.
* many gels or shampoos have included some sort of micro-bubbles which usually aren't caught in sewage plants. These should be forbidden, if they aren't already, as they get into the environment as part of the much-discussed microplastics.
Also, while staying clean is certainly a necessity, there's no need to overdo it - actually, too much can be quite bad for your skin. Non-liquid soap and a face cloth can go a long way, and uses much less resources than showers or baths.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 12 2019, @12:18PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nuke on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:25PM (1 child)
Don't you mean microbeads? Already banned in most of N America and Europe.
(Score: 2) by aim on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:31PM
Right! Thank you for the precision, my memory didn't serve up the proper term "microbeads".
From the wikipedia article, not everybody has banned these yet, but it's on its way.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:54PM
Next step up is a heat pump, always cheaper to move heat than to make it. I am told you can long term average over 300% efficiency using a heat pump water heater. Donno if true or false. Big decision for me, I've had a tankless for like 20 years and they only last 30 years (unlike tanks that struggle to make it 5 years) so should I stay tankless or go tanked heat pump?
Tankless never runs out of heat so I can shower then dish washer then laundry one right after the other and when I'm not using hot water the energy consumption is about 3 watts of control board power.
Heat pump transports heat rather than making it, so I use power constantly and the tank is only X gallons in size which must suck, but I don't use much peak power.
Then too, theres solar direct water heating and despite living pretty far north its quite possible. Or solar to help power my electric heat pump. Hmm...
Overall I'd probably rather buy a heat pump, than never wash my hair again the article or whatever nonsense.