It was a little warm on the drive to work today. I’ve heard in the past (though I can’t cite a source) that at highway speeds, running the air conditioning uses roughly the same amount of energy as opening a window, because of the increased drag on the car (at lower speeds, it’s better to open windows).
Today I did neither. I just endured a slightly warmer-than-usual ride to work. I’m not sure exactly how much energy (or carbon emissions) I saved, but judging by how perceptible the sluggishness of my car is with the air running, it’s got to be something.
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It appears showering is an activity with many opportunities for conservation. Today I did something that I’ve started doing more and more: Turning off the shower water while I’m soaping up.
As with many of the things I’ve tried so far, I find that I actually prefer it to the old way of doing things (in this case, letting the water run). It’s easier to soap up without the water running, and I think I’m getting better shower as a result. It’s nice when being “good” feels good too.
As for the math: A typical showerhead uses 5-10 gallons per minute. So if I save one minute of shower water per day, that’s 5 gallons/day = 1,800 gallons/year. That’s a lot of water.
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