Shower instead of bathe

If you shower less than 10 minutes, it’s better for the environment to shower instead of bathe. You use less water and less energy, resulting in lower bills and greenhouse gas emissions. So simply switching to showers is a great step you can take for the planet.

Why showers are better than baths

A bath uses between 50 and 150 liters to fill, depending on the water level and hot tubs even more. Let’s say we take the average of 100 liters. If you have a reasonably efficient shower head that uses 10 liters per minute, that means any shower you take for less than 10 minutes is better than a bath.

The rare case a bath is better than a shower

If shower longer than 10 minutes, you actually use more water and energy. So only then a bath is the better option. However, it’s not recommended to shower for so long and to use a shower timer instead.

How to take a bath with less environmental impact

While it differs a lot between countries, roughly 15% of people still take a bath at least once a week1  and many more would do it if they had a bath in their home2. And if you still want to take a bath sometimes as well, there are a few things you can do to help the environment. One is to not fill up the bath all the way to the top. Especially if you wash your hair with a showerhead or use a jug, there is no real need to use that much water. To save even more energy also make sure you don’t make the water overly hot.

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