More to the point, I hand-wash with a trickle of water, and towel or air-dry, and I find it extremely difficult to imagine that that approach is anywhere near as resource-intensive as a dishwasher, especially when you factor in its built-in electric dryer.

Ok, compared to most of the people I’ve seen wash dishes, yes, a dishwasher probably saves water. But as with so many other environmental issues we’re facing, that’s an awareness and/or conscience thing. “Look at how much water I save if I wash my dishes in a somewhat-wasteful dishwasher instead of using a really-wasteful approach by hand!!!”

Do they save time? Absolutely. Do they save water? Highly suspect.

But changing how we wash dishes is a tiny fraction of the environmental impact we have compared to diet. Want to make a real difference? What it takes to get food onto our plates is far more of an issue than how we get food off of them.

A somewhat light-hearted reference:
http://www.pbjcampaign.org/numbers

The resource-savings for a plant-based diet are huge – probably the single biggest impact we can influence as individuals.

The other concern for me, I am renting and the dishwasher is definitely not the most efficient and to get dishes clean you MUST pre-rinse which defeats the whole purpose. Now it’s an oversized drying rack for my handwashing. Thanks for all the ideas to adjust my washing technique to conserve more water and energy.

I’m getting a water aerator for the sink to save even more water hopefully. And thanks again to everyone.

This is to say nothing of the fact that we’re overly reliant on the convenience of machines; as efficient as we might make them, stuffing dishes into a dishwasher or clothes into an “efficient” washing machine, pressing a button, and waiting for magic to happen is no way to live (though most of us can’t give that up). Simplifying our lives across the board would make points like this moot in terms of what we can do to help our local environment, because as it is, we use far too many resources daily.

However, I agree with Sage that learning less-wasteful dish-washing techniques would go a long way. My husband and I always hand wash with minimal amounts of water and a soapy sponge, and we don’t have the space or inclination to add another appliance to our kitchen.

There’s no “best” way… each person should do the things that work the best for them, while being mindful of resources. I’m not sure if I’d be as pro-handwashing if I had a family, but this is what works for us.

Great list of suggestions… although I haven’t washed my car in years and it still looks fine!

Not everyone has access to a dishwasher, but everyone can use common sense and save water. I live alone now, but I used the same dishwashing methods for a family of four.