does taking a shorter shower help reduce global warming?

Answer 1

I dunno about global warming, but it would obviously conserve more water....yet another issue on this earth...

Answer 2

More than most other common materials, water stores lots of energy with little change in temperature, so it takes lots of energy to change its temperature. Thus, heating water for your shower uses significantly more energy the hotter the water is, the higher the flow, and the longer the shower. An efficient shower head allows about 10 liters per minute; each liter takes 4kJ to rise one degree celsius; those 10 liters are raised from about 5C to 45C; thus, one minute of showering uses around 1.6MJ of energy, or about half a kWh; if you're using electric heat, that might cost about ten (US) cents per minute, natural gas maybe half that. So, a ten minute shower costs you a dollar or one half.
But what of global warming? If you used commonly acquired electricity, which is a wasteful way to heat things, a ten minute shower costs 350 grams of CO2, or 95 grams of Carbon. Natural gas costs roughly half that much CO2 or C. If you drive a big car like most Americans and many other people, then this amount may seem insignificant, but it's less insignificant than finding a quarter on the ground--and wouldn't you pick up that quarter?
Also, there are those invisible-hand economists that think that whenever you take a shorter shower, all you are doing is reducing your demand for a resource that someone else will fill, negating your effect. I don't believe in such simple-minded economics--Consumers vote with their feet. When they abandon a consumption of a product, the production goes down, whatever the supply.
So, I think yes, taking a shorter shower helps reduce global warming. 100 million pennies makes a million dollars; if pennies are insignificant, then would you mind if I took 100 million away from you?

Answer 3

A shower of a few minutes uses less water than taking a bath, the shorter the shower the less water is used. Reducing the amount of water means less energy is needed to heat the water so less fossil fuels are burned to provide the gas or electric used to heat the water.

Using less water by taking a shorter shower or showering instead of bathing means less energy needed to pump the water to your house (very energy intensive unless you're gravity fed) and less energy needed during the filtering and processing stages at the water treatment works - both in supplying your house with clean water and in processing the waste water.

Answer 4

As a joke -- because I know you enjoy them on occasion -- I did a search and by golly, you're right! Showers account for 2/3 of all water heating costs. Save 350 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $99 per year by taking shorter showers! And if you shower together, like the one fellow suggested, just think of the savings!

So I still owe you a funny answer, I guess.

Answer 5

Not really global warming, but you will help keep water. I mean in a couple of year california will not have water. Right now california is fighting for water because they do not have any, and if people are using more water than there won't be any left. I know that the earth is made out of 75% of water but is not water that we can use. It's salt water. So please to and reduce water.

Answer 6

In places where your water needs to be pumped, it would save on that energy, which may come from or increase demand for fossil fuel based electricity.

In areas where your water comes from hydroelectric reservoirs, depleting the water supply limits the amount available for generation, necessitating the use of carbon producing power plants to make up the difference.

Water supply, as a previous answerer noted, is also an environmental concern, and in some places is more pressing than climate change.

Answer 7

if you take cold showers all it would do is preserve water - if you take hot showers it saves either electricity or gas - thereby reducing global warming.

Answer 8

Not directly. but it certainly reduces water consumption which in turn helps to preserve the water on earth

Answer 9

Depends on how dirty you are. If by saving electricity/gas you don't scub off the germs and get sick and possibly infect others, which is the better of two evils?

Answer 10

In lieu of shorter showers, I've opted for sharing showers.

Just doing my part...

Answer 11

If you really cared about the Earth, you would stop taking showers all together.

You wouldn't want the Europeans to care more than you.