Younger people spend more time in the shower

(24/11/2009)

Showers have become more popular in the last 30 years, from less than 20% of homes owning a shower in the 1970s to about 85% ownership today. Showering and bathing are now one of the few areas of water consumption in the home which many water companies estimate to be growing; they are one of the key drivers of increasing per capita water consumption.

Water accounts for a quarter of energy use in homes and, as homes become better insulated, water will become a much more dominant cause of energy use. Government (as set out in the paper Future Water) want people’s personal daily water consumption to reduce from 150 litres now to 130 litres by 2030.

Whether a bath or a shower uses more water depends on the person far more than it does on the technology: If someone is using a shower for more than ten minutes, chances are they are using more water than a bath.

The way people shower varies a lot: While we think the average time is about 5-8 minutes, this hides a huge variance: some people shower for as little as 3 minutes, whilst other spend half an hour in the shower.

Research launched by Waterwise reveals that the older generation takes around 5 minutes less in the shower than youngsters aged 18 to 24 - people aged 55 to 64 only take around eight and a half minutes to shower, but young men on average spend 13 mins 30 secs in the shower while young women of the same age take 14 mins 52 secs.

‘Big respect to the over 55s,’ said Jacob Tompkins, managing director of Waterwise, the water efficiency body co-ordinating the campaign on behalf of the water companies. ‘People might expect the older generation to take longer but quite clearly when it comes to showering they’re showing the younger generation a clean, er, pair of heels, which is good news for the environment. The shower is a big contributor to a home’s carbon emissions and a big user of hot water. Less time spent in the shower means less water and less energy, leading to saving money on energy and metered water bills, and resulting in less carbon emissions to heat the water, which helps prevent global warming.’

Not all young people hang around in the shower, though. More than half (58 per cent) young men take 10 minutes or less, while 46 per cent of young women take 10 minutes or less.
Meanwhile entrants to Shower power competitions have pledged to take shorter showers – and given a fascinating snapshot of their morning activities.

‘Apart from welcoming their commitment to saving time in the shower, people have been telling us what they would do with the extra time they will save,” said Jacob.”It’s like gaining a fly-on-the-wall view of Britain’s households in the morning.’

By far the most popular thing people intend to do with the saved time is to stay in bed longer.
A number of virtuous people are committed to using the time for exercise, including pilates, yoga or longer walks with the dog. Several said they would use the time to surf the web or read a bit more of a book. While another popular move was to devote proper time to sitting down for a cuppa and a proper breakfast. One respondent declared he would ‘sing and smile more’ and another would use the extra time to ‘improve my mind’. Finally, one man who took the subject to heart said he would ‘nag my wife to spend less time in the shower’.

But does perception match reality? Research showed that men quite significantly overestimate how long women spend showering. They think that on average women spend 14 mins 7 secs in the shower while research indicated the actual time they spend is 10 mins 28 secs.

Related categories:  Energy Conservation   Residential applications   Showers   Water efficiency