A pioneering study by Unilever UK and Ireland that monitors Brits' showering habits has revealed that showering uses nearly as much water and energy as running a bath - with power showers using potentially more
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Meanwhile, the average power shower could cost families as much as £918 per year, as an eight minute power shower uses nearly twice as much energy and water as taking a bath.
To gather the data a shower sensor device was used to monitor 2,600 showers taken by 100 families, over 10 days - totaling 1,000 days of research. The device recorded when showers were being used and for how long.
In addition, participants were asked to keep shower diaries to track of when they were showering and what they did. This provided Unilever scientists with the opportunity to monitor the differences between actual and reported showering behavior by running a separate self-report survey.
According to Unilever, findings from the study, which it claims is the first to record accurate data on how we shower, will enable scientists to help consumers save energy, water and money. It also hopes the study could be used to provide a benchmark for the environmental and financial benefits of reducing shower time to save energy and water.
Unilever has estimated that around 95% of the greenhouse gases associated with shampoos, soaps and shower gels come from people using hot water when showering. It hopes that the new study will provide better understanding of shower behavior which will help it develop solutions and products to counter this.
Commenting on the findings, Unilever behavioral psychologist Dr Hilde Hendrickx, said: "This study will help us start to understand what the catalysts are for changing people's behavior in order to reduce the amount of energy and water they use during showering.
"It will also enable us to shape new products and other solutions to deliver savings in energy, water and money, both for us and our customers. This sort of work is vital if we are to grow our business while reducing our environmental footprint."
Young boys were, perhaps surprisingly, found to be the worst shower offenders taking on average ten minutes per shower.
Women were found to be better multi-taskers than men, generally taking shorter showers, while, perhaps less surprisingly, teenage girls were found to spend the longest time in the bathroom.
I really hate to ask what Unilever's agenda was and is here for any tests that have been carried out by myself personally, and other people, seem to conclude that a shower uses way less by way of water (and energy).
Any child spending 10 minutes in the shower or more needs to be controlled by parents. Then again, it would appear as if their parents are some of the worst offenders.
A shower needs to take no more than 4 to 5 minutes in order to achieve the entire job and not ten plus plus minutes. Attitudes need changing. And why, pray, would anyone want to spend more than five minutes in a shower? What are they doing? Or shouldn't I ask?
People need to get a timer and, maybe, a shower pebble...
© 2011
