Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Have you ever wondered why we should save water when it feels like Rhode Island has enough to go around? Today, Meg Talikoff and Juliana Merullo are here to answer that question. Hi, guys!
Juliana Merullo: Hi!
Meg Talikoff: Hey, Megan!
Megan Hall: So, what’s the deal? Why should I worry about my ten-minute shower when we seem to be having a lot more floods than droughts around here?
Meg Talikoff: First, it’s important to clarify that water conservation has different benefits depending on who is using less water.
Megan Hall: What do you mean by that?
Juliana Merullo: Well, the amount of water people use at home is so small relative to other uses, that it basically doesn’t affect our total water use.
Meg Talikoff: So, the reason you personally should conserve water isn’t really related to how much water is available in Rhode Island. It mostly has to do with energy.
Megan Hall: Can you explain that a little more? How are water and energy connected?
Juliana Merullo: It just takes a lot of energy to get water from the environment, treat it, transport it to your house, heat it, clean it when you’re done, and repeat that cycle over and over again.
Megan Hall: Okay. But, is using energy really a bad thing?
Meg Talikoff: Well, most of our energy still comes from burning fossil fuels. Which means the more water we use, the more greenhouse gasses we emit.
Megan Hall: So, energy use contributes to climate change, but how much are we talking about? Is water a big contributor?
Juliana Merullo: It’s not the biggest home energy use, but it’s not small either.
Meg Talikoff: In the typical American house, water heating alone accounts for about 20% of all the energy use.
Juliana Merullo: That’s less than heating air, but more than all your electronics and appliances. And it adds up.
Meg Talikoff: In fact, the amount of energy the average American spends on home water services comes out to about one and a half tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Juliana Merullo: For reference, the average American car creates about four and a half tons of carbon dioxide a year.
Meg Talikoff: So if you wanted to offset your water use by not driving, you’d have to walk everywhere for over four months a year!
Megan Hall: So I shouldn’t be mindlessly using water. Do you guys have any specific tips on how to conserve?
Meg Talikoff: The most obvious answer is just to turn off the tap when you can. Cutting your shower time in half will naturally cut that shower’s emissions in half, too.
Juliana Merullo: You could try picking one song, and getting out of the shower when it’s over!
Meg Talikof: Also, something people don’t always realize is that about 95% of the energy cost of home water use comes from heating the water.
Juliana Merullo: So using cold water can save you a bunch of water-related emissions.
Meg Talikoff: One easy way to use more cold water is by running your laundry machine on the cold setting.
Juliana Merullo: If you’re brave, try a cold shower. One recent study found that spending five minutes in cold water (without your getting your head wet) could boost your mood.
Meg Talikoff: Though, I’m not going to try that one.
Megan Hall: If I’m not ready to commit to a cold shower in the morning, is there anything else I can do to save water?
Meg Talikoff: Definitely – That’s where you can look into buying water-efficient appliances. For example – front loading washers use much less water than top loaders.
Juliana Merullo: And ENERGY STAR appliances use about 20% less energy than traditional washers.
Meg Talikoff: Or you could make the heating process more efficient by warming your water with a hot water heat pump, instead of a water heater that burns gas or oil.
Megan Hall: Okay, I’ve got action items! But what about those “other uses” you mentioned? Who’s using up most of our water?
Meg Talikoff: We’ll talk more about that in our episode next week.
Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks Meg and Juliana!
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Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio, Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, and Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative.