3 ms·

Given how much water is needed to extract metals from the ground to create new appliances, the total amount of wasted water is subject to debate. It may be bett

Given how much water is needed to extract metals from the ground to create new appliances, the total amount of wasted water is subject to debate. It may be better overall to just keep using the old thing till it breaks.

jacquesm 4y ago
It might even be worth fixing it, depending on the build quality and the actual consumption. Use a kill-a-watt or something similar to figure out what the device actually costs. Be prepared for surprises, both in the positive and the negative direction! Do this before something breaks.
bayindirh 4y ago
Replaced a 20+ year GE 18" fridge due to its age. Its insulation was gone, compressor has lost a lot of power and was noisy. Our new Samsung has more space, less noise, way less heat generation and power consumption, and has no additional bells and whistles. Like or not, appliances age, and their performance drops. Same with dishwashers. With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. Arcelik/Beko group uses 1000LT fresh water per year. The rest is recycled in the plant. This is less than monthly consumption of a single household.
- rytis 4y ago
  > With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. Agreed. What's worrying though is the amount of water wasted in the delivery network. Really annoying when people trying to save a litre here or there and then millions are just going straight in to the ground. https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/leakage-performance https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/leakage-p... > Every day we supply 2.6 billion litres of water, but not all of that gets to our customers. At the moment, we leak almost 24% of the water we supply.
  - egeozcan 4y ago
    If you speak German and want to see an example for wasting a lot of water so casually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bykcfJgye2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bykcfJgye2M The gist of the story is, because of the unmaintained leaky pipes of a decorative water installation, the city of Marburg wasted 20 million liters per year. A comedy show on state television is making fun of them.
  - thorin 4y ago
    When I was working on the grid a few years ago we got all the data on leakage to plow through and it was greater than 50% at that point (UK)!
- cik 4y ago
  > Same with dishwashers. With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. There's a lot to be said with focusing on the right outcomes. We should do everything we can to reduce unnecessary waste and inputs. But, we also need to embrace water reclamation, water recycling. We currently reclaim ~86% of the water in my country. It's not great - but it's a good place to start.
- mcv 4y ago
  > Arcelik/Beko group uses 1000LT fresh water per year. The rest is recycled in the plant. This is less than monthly consumption of a single household. That is far less than I expected. But does it account for the water use in their supply chain? I think that should also be counted. That said, fridges and washing machines use enormous amounts of power and water, so savings there count for a lot. Far more than in many other household appliances.

jacquesm 4y ago

It might even be worth fixing it, depending on the build quality and the actual consumption. Use a kill-a-watt or something similar to figure out what the device actually costs. Be prepared for surprises, both in the positive and the negative direction! Do this before something breaks.

bayindirh 4y ago

Replaced a 20+ year GE 18" fridge due to its age. Its insulation was gone, compressor has lost a lot of power and was noisy. Our new Samsung has more space, less noise, way less heat generation and power consumption, and has no additional bells and whistles. Like or not, appliances age, and their performance drops. Same with dishwashers. With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. Arcelik/Beko group uses 1000LT fresh water per year. The rest is recycled in the plant. This is less than monthly consumption of a single household.

rytis 4y ago
> With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. Agreed. What's worrying though is the amount of water wasted in the delivery network. Really annoying when people trying to save a litre here or there and then millions are just going straight in to the ground. https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/leakage-performance https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/leakage-p... > Every day we supply 2.6 billion litres of water, but not all of that gets to our customers. At the moment, we leak almost 24% of the water we supply.
- egeozcan 4y ago
  If you speak German and want to see an example for wasting a lot of water so casually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bykcfJgye2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bykcfJgye2M The gist of the story is, because of the unmaintained leaky pipes of a decorative water installation, the city of Marburg wasted 20 million liters per year. A comedy show on state television is making fun of them.
- thorin 4y ago
  When I was working on the grid a few years ago we got all the data on leakage to plow through and it was greater than 50% at that point (UK)!
cik 4y ago
> Same with dishwashers. With the looming water crisis ahead, every drop of savings is a plus. There's a lot to be said with focusing on the right outcomes. We should do everything we can to reduce unnecessary waste and inputs. But, we also need to embrace water reclamation, water recycling. We currently reclaim ~86% of the water in my country. It's not great - but it's a good place to start.
mcv 4y ago
> Arcelik/Beko group uses 1000LT fresh water per year. The rest is recycled in the plant. This is less than monthly consumption of a single household. That is far less than I expected. But does it account for the water use in their supply chain? I think that should also be counted. That said, fridges and washing machines use enormous amounts of power and water, so savings there count for a lot. Far more than in many other household appliances.