I was curious which is greener, to wash dishes by hand or use the dishwasher. I know dishwashers use hotter water which kills germs that you don't get by hand, and I'd heard it uses less water. But I wondered if the electric used kills the value?
Here's the last paragraph of this article on the subject:
"Built in dishwasher vs. hand-washing: And the winner is...
These numbers indicate that it's possible to be more efficient when hand-washing, but it's pretty tough. Can you successfully wash and rinse a soiled dinner plate in just over a cup of water? If you can keep the water use low, equal to an efficient machine, you'll require less energy, but doing an entire load of dishes in 4 gallons of water is roughly equivalent to doing them all in the same amount of water you use in 96 seconds of showering (using a showerhead that emits 2.5 gallons per minute).So, as long as you don't often run your dishwasher when it's only half full of dirty dishes, or unless you are very miserly with your water use (or have an old, inefficient dishwasher), the automatic dishwasher is likely to be more efficient. That is to say, it's possible to use less water and energy by hand washing your dishes, but it's not easy. Of course, if you do it just right, it might just be a wash.
Hit the next page to dig a little deeper and see where all these numbers and calculations came from."
So for the vast majority of us, the answer is to use a dishwasher! I'm ok with that one!
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Most plastic ware that the kids eat & drink from are not dishwasher safe.
Plus, in order to run a full dishwasher, we will run out of plates, utensils, and cups to take us through the day, until they are cleaned.
I used to think like that too, but it is quicker to wash them in the sink, than 90 minutes in the dishwasher.
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