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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: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:27PM (1 child)
I have seen reports of people dying of heart attacks triggered by cold showers. FWIW it is also the traditional cure for excessive libido.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday February 12 2019, @01:34PM
Sure, most heart attacks happen in the morning as circulation is ramping up. A cold shower is an extra kick, so if you have heart problems you might not want to take cold showers. I should also add, that the first month or so, the cold showers are unpleasant throughout. So, as ones tends to say, nothing for the fainthearted.