Dishwasher Energy Diet

In order to be "green" you might be curious to know if washing dishes by hand or in the dishwasher is better. Here are the helpful hints:

• Dishwashers made before 1994 use 12 or more gallons of water, those after 1994 use between 7-10 gallons.
• Wash only full loads.
• do not use the temperature boost setting: heating water is about 80% of the energy used
• fill the soap dispenser about 2/3 full for best performance
• air dry the dishes, or use the "no-heat" dry setting
• don't rinse the dishes before loading, just scrape them
• use shortest possible cycle
• keep filter clear of food particles

A study conducted in Germany reports an average of 27 gallons of water to wash a 12 piece place setting by hand. The automatic dishwasher using the same number of equally dirty dishes used only 4 gallons. Looks like the automatic dishwasher wins!