apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The dishwasher question is pretty easy to figure out. I also have an old 70's dishwasher, and it uses 12 pints per cycle (1.5 gallons). There are 5 cycles in a normal wash and 4 cycles in a light wash cycle (which is what I use). Soooo, a light wash uses 4.5 gallons of water. That's not that bad considering it takes 4 gallons just to half fill the dishwashing side of my sink, not including rinsing.

I think it is safe to say that even if you only fill your sink 1/3 full of soapy water and then 1/3 full of rinse water (~6 gallons) it is STILL more efficient to use your dishwasher.

To save power when you use the dishwasher, open the door and let the dishes air-dry - don't use the auto-dry feature.