Environmental and Social Aspects of Domestic Bathing - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 217

Table 7.3 Comparison of bathing methods, using expressions [ 7.1 ] and [ 7.2 ] and Table 7.2

Final
mixed
temp (°C)

Direct
energy
(kWh)

CO 2 e
emission
(kg)

Water
heating

Water
used (l) Bathing method Notes

Basin/bowl Gas combi 41 8 0.36 0.09 Very little

dampness

Shower (modest) Electric

7.5 kW

38 20 (5 min ×

4 l/min)

0.70 0.43 Moderate

dampness

Shower (modest) Gas combi 38 20 (5 min ×

4 l/min)

0.82 0.21 Moderate

dampness

Shower (lavish) Gas combi 41 160 (10 min ×

16 l/min)

7.23 1.87 Much

dampness

Bath (economical) Gas combi 37 60 2.38 0.62 Little

dampness

Bath (normal) Gas combi 38 80 3.28 0.85 Little

dampness

Bath (lavish) Gas combi 41 90 4.06 1.04 Moderate

dampness

￿ If the energy supply is oil rather than gas, the CO 2 e emissions are greater by a
little over 40%.
￿ Ringing the changes, always mindfully, between basin, shower and occasional
bath is hygienic and pleasurable.

8 Context Revisited

Utopias never, as their authors usually hope, remake society in their own image. Instead,
elements of the utopia are gradually assimilated by the outside world, altering it in subtle
but sometimes profound ways … Utopias are realized piecemeal, but realized they fre-
quently are. (Neville-Sington and Sington 1993 , p 255)
Profound change is indeed needed but, as the above quotation indicates, it will
not come quickly or easily. This study is not meant to be an addition to the great pile
of advice that can appear to hold the isolated individual responsible for what is hap-
pening but rather an invitation to practise and refl ect - to explore what may be pos-
sible in a future when a total rejection of the current profl igacy becomes the norm.
Humanity's millennia-old ascent to domination has been achieved, and now the
wisdom of the adage be careful what you wish for is becoming clearer. Attitudes
change all the time, often in surprising ways. Overarching norms, such as attitudes
to authority and to what is good, change. Attitudes to practical matters also change.
Attitudes to bathing change over decades, centuries and millennia and by no means
smoothly in the direction 'dirty to clean to cleaner'. Our present practices could be
described as the dirtiest ever, in that we are befouling the only home we have.