Environmental and Social Aspects of Domestic Bathing - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 208

Water-Related GHG Emissions Anglian Water ( 2012 ), the largest water and
water recycling company in England and Wales by geographic area, states that
its total (treated water plus wastewater) annual net emissions for 2011 were 1.23
gCO 2 e/l. This is fairly small but still signifi cant compared with the main contribution
in bathing, namely the emissions cost of the energy needed to heat water. It is
allowed for in the CO 2 e column of the comparison table in Sect. 7.5 .

7 Methods of Bathing

The manner in which a civilization integrates bathing within its life, as well as the type of
bathing it prefers, yields searching insight into the inner nature of the period. (Giedion
1948 , p 628)

Human ideas and practices have varied remarkably over history, and the current
ones will likely come to be seen, in historical perspective, to be radically mutable,
the more so when we allow for the planetary ecological changes which are in train.
In this section I will describe observations, experiences and ideas about the various
kinds of bathing which are generally practised or can easily be tried out, in today's
technical and cultural milieu. What may be possible in a conserver society is yet to
be developed by society in general, with engineers playing a creative role.

7.1 Shower

I start my discussion of various methods of bathing with showering because it has
been for some decades, in rich countries, the principal way of bathing. Already by
the late 1990s in the USA, showers accounted for nine times as much as baths for
the indoor water use in a typical single-family home (Alliance for Water Effi ciency
2010 ). Advertising, sustainability campaigns and the combination of the two - most
appropriately named in this context, greenwash - pay a great deal of attention to
showering. But showers have not swept the board solely on the basis of advertising.
Modern showers are convenient and pleasurable, and they can be economical. The
potential for economy has however not been realised. The market for simple show-
ers was showing signs of saturation a couple of decades ago in rich, westernised
countries (earlier in North America), and showering has become profl igate in water,
energy and embodied materials (through persuading people that they need the latest
equipment). This trend has been led by capitalism's unending need for new markets
(Brown 2002 ). Advertising creates the desire for new products. 'Triton Power
Showers mean no one need be without the forceful and invigorating experience of a
high fl ow rate shower' and 'you can be sure that the power is a force to be reckoned
with' and 'up to 14 litres of beautifully warm water per minute' (Triton undated ).
Alongside this kind of advertising copy, with its fantasies of limitless vigour, com-
fort and well-being, there is also publicity for eco-products and innovations, for