How to Green Your Dishwasher

Dig Deeper Into TreeHugger

Dig deeper by perusing some of our thousands of posts.

The secret to getting clean dishes while saving water and energy is a synthesis of good practices and good design.

• This TreeHugger offers the tip of washing your dishes on the light cycle, no matter the size of the load. Comments by readers offer enlightening input on other ways to lighten the load as well as why some habits are hard to break.
• Although we have our doubts about plastic-wrapped food, the Surreal Gourmet offers recipes for how to cook using your dishwasher.
• Hitachi has announced the development of a compact dishwasher that uses nano-sized (one billionth of a meter) water droplets to clean dishes.
• Have a question about kitchen appliances? TreeHugger helps out with a post on kitchen gear.
• Part of General Electric’s Ecomagination initiative, the SmartDispense dishwasher is not only water and energy efficient, it holds 45 ounces of liquid detergent and releases “just the right amount” per load.
• In 2004, the winner of the Electrolux Design Laboratory competition was a dishwasher that utilizes closed-loop, super-critical carbon dioxide to clean dishes, using no water or detergent.

Dig Deeper Into Other Sources

TreeHugger is one of many sources; here are some other great ones.

• The federal Energy Star program provides a list of energy and water efficient dishwashers and some tips for how to maximize savings.

• The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy compiled a list of the most energy-efficient dishwashers for 2005. Many of these are even better than the Energy Star requirements, and some of these have an annual energy cost of only $17.

• Flex Your Power, a California energy-efficiency campaign, offers several tips on how to green your dishwasher.

• An article by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy on how to lower your electric bill and purchase efficient appliances.

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Sense program (like the Energy Star program, but for water-consuming products) provides water conservation tips and products under review.

• MetaEfficient reviews the book, Solar Water Heating.

• A great article from Grist examines the issue of phosphates in dishwashing detergent, why they are trouble, and what can be done about it.

• An article from the Michigan Environmental Council compares phosphate levels in various brands of conventional dishwashing detergent.

• The Organization for the Assabet River illustrates some of the ill effects of phosphate pollution and lists conventional as well as phosphate-free detergents.

Where to Get This Stuff

Vote with your dollars and help support the green revolution.

We have not personally tested all these, so let us know about your experiences. The following links are places where you can get green dishwashers, dishwashing products, and related resources. We are not endorsing any particular products, these are just companies that are pushing the edge of sustainability.

• Bosch
• Electrolux/Frigidaire
• GE’s Ecomagination Dishwasher
• LG
• Maytag
• Whirlpool
• B E E
• Earth Friendly Products
• Method
• Mrs. Meyer’s
• Seventh Generation
• Solar hot water heating systems are available from Gaiam, as well as many others.