Manual dishwashing habits: an empirical analysis of UK consumers

Self Cite

The great progress in the energy efficiency of household appliances is primarily generated by the improved design of refrigerators, freezers, washing machines and dishwashers. In the long term, a positive effect on household electricity consumption is expected with increasing numbers of old appliances being replaced by new and more energy‐efficient ones. Studies of electricity consumption in private households show that energy efficiency can also be improved by changes in consumer behaviour, in addition to improvements in the technical design of appliances. Consumer studies on behavioural aspects of electricity consumption related to large household appliances have already been conducted, but little information is available about cooking. However, the influence of consumer behaviour on energy consumption is particularly interesting where cooking is concerned. The most important processes of manual and machine food preparation shall therefore be investigated regarding performance and energy efficiency. This provides a basis for attempting to estimate the energy‐saving potential of optimized cooking processes in order to obtain sound scientific information about the energy‐saving potentials for the most typical and relevant cooking processes in European households, which are: boiling water (representing hot drinks, soups and parboiling process); brewing coffee (representing automated brewing processes); cooking potatoes (representing the cooking process itself); boiling eggs (representing automated boiling processes). The study shows that the energy consumption of typical household cooking processes varies greatly according to the chosen method. In the tests carried out for this study, the method making most sense in terms of energy consumption saved between 50% and 70% energy compared with the least favourable method. Based on the results, the authors provide recommendations on energy‐saving cooking methods.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy efficiency in daily food preparation

Oberascher¹,

Stamminger

Pakula

2011

Self Cite

“…In this definition, ecology is not just about marine life or preserving the rainforests, but about everyday practices multiplied across the 6.4 billion people in the world that impact the air, water and earth. According to Berkholz et al . (2010, p. 235), ‘the rising demand for natural and non‐renewable resources is not only limited to agriculture and industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Survey research is used to gauge consumer attitudes and behaviour (Abeliotis et al ., 2010). Experimental methods are used to understand how individuals perform household tasks in order to provide recommendations for improving sustainable behaviour (Berkholz et al ., 2010). It is proposed that social influence theory can provide a basis for understanding consumption and developing policies to encourage sustainable consumption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social influence and sustainability in households

Goldsmith

2011

117

The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of social influence regarding sustainability in households. Several research studies show that individual and family recycling and e‐consumption behaviours are more affected by people that the individual/family know than by outside influences such as government or advertising campaigns. Social influence theory, although prevalent in such diverse fields as communication, marketing, sociology including medical and rural sociology, management information science and education, has not been used as extensively in human sciences, home economics and human ecology, specifically in applications to household green behaviour. The origins of social influence are found in the ground‐breaking work in opinion leadership by Lazarsfeld in sociology and in E.M. Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory. The present article makes a case for using social influence theory as a framework for future studies and academic work in environmentalism, and for those trying to increase or promote pro‐environmental behaviour at the individual, family or household level.

“…Emmel and Leech, 2003). In fact, consumers would save considerable amounts of time, water, energy and money if they would consequently use a dishwasher (Luecke, 1971; Gudd et al ., 1993; Gutzschebauch et al ., 1996; Stamminger, 2006; Berkholz and Stamminger, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usage of dishwashers: observation of consumer habits in the domestic environment

Richter

2011

Over the years, appliance manufacturers have been successful in developing dishwashers that enable consumers to save time, energy and water very conveniently. Within the last 20 years the savings in energy consumption exceed 30%, and the average water consumption per cycle has been more than halved. As a result, it is very hard for the majority of people to compete with the efficiency of a dishwasher when dishes are done by hand. However, consumer habits (e.g. regarding the use of the dishwasher load capacity, programme choice and particularly the additional pretreatment of dishes with water) are influencing the overall efficiency of the dishwashing process and resource use. Still, detailed information on consumer behaviour in everyday life concerning these issues is rare. In order to improve the understanding of dishwashing habits and to fill the lack of information about dishwashing on the household level, an in‐house consumer survey in four European countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK) was conducted between 2007 and 2008. Two hundred households with and without dishwasher were interviewed and comprehensively observed. For a period of 2 weeks, participants recorded every dishwashing process with the help of a dishwashing diary and pictures they took of their loaded dishwashers. In addition, an in‐depth observation took place in 82 households where measurements and webcam observations were recorded at the kitchen sink. Actual resource consumption data for manual dishwashing and the pretreatment for the dishwasher were obtained. The present paper reports on findings of this investigation and concentrates on consumer habits related to the use of the dishwasher. In general, the study showed that the households with dishwasher used on average 50% less water and 28% less energy per cleaned item compared with households not owning a dishwasher. Yet, there were still consumer habits, which indicate that a higher degree of sustainable dishwashing is achievable. The researchers found that in 20% of the dishwasher cycles, baskets were only slightly filled and consumers were likely to use higher amounts of energy than stated on the energy label because they have chosen mostly in favour of high cleaning temperatures (52% used 65°C and higher). Particularly in Italy and Sweden intensive pretreatment habits have been observed, resulting in an average additional water use of 11–20 L per dishwasher cycle.