For municipalities desperate to save water‚ the secret’s in the shower.
Water use falls when consumers can see how much they’re using‚ according to a study by German and Swiss scientists.
A shower-mounted display depicting energy consumption produced average savings of 22%.
“The shower is an ideal starting point‚ because it’s where more than two-thirds of a household’s hot water is required‚” said Thorsten Staake‚ of the Energy Efficient Systems Group at the University of Bamberg.
Measuring devices fitted below the shower head in 700 households depicted water consumption‚ water temperature and energy use for two months.
“For people who take long showers‚ the savings even came to almost 30% percent‚” said lead author Verena Tiefenbeck‚ of the University of Bonn‚ in the journal Management Science.
“Many people think of switching lights off and more economical fridges when they think of saving energy. The average household in Germany and Switzerland consumes five-and-a-half times as much energy when showering as for its entire lighting and four times as much as for the fridge and freezer together.”
– TMG Digital/TimesLIVE
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
