Hand Washing vs. Dishwasher

Article courtesy of Energy Star

by Franklin PUD Public Affairs

If you still wash your dishes by hand, you’re wasting more than just time.

Save Money

Washing dishes in a new ENERGY STAR certified machine rather than hand washing can cut your utility bills by more than $40 per year.

Save Time

Instead of scrubbing, rinsing, and drying each dish, just load them all in an ENERGY STAR dishwasher and press start. Using an ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher can save you over 230 hours of personal time over the course of a year. That’s almost 10 days!

Get Better Cleaning

Many features in an ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher result in better cleaning. For example, ENERGY STAR certified dishwashers boost water temperatures to 140 degrees, which allows for improved disinfection compared to hand washing.

Save Energy and Water

Thought you were efficient? A new ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher uses less than half as much energy as washing dishes by hand and saves nearly 5,000 gallons of water a year!

Save the Environment

Because they use less energy, ENERGY STAR certified products reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels. By reducing water consumption, they also help protect our lakes, streams and oceans.