I've been told however that standard detergents for dishwashers do much more harm to the environment than hand-washing detergents. This is due to the fact they have to compensate for the lack of manual rubbing/scrapping/etc. I don't know how true this is, but using an environmentally-friendly brand like Ecover is a good idea in any case.

I'd like to see their numbers rather than an abstract. You'll note that the research project partners include Bosch and Electrolux, among others.

however you should consider that most laundry and hand-dishwashing detergents are now phosphate free, whereas dishwasher detergents still have lots of phosphates, which are very harmful if permitted to leach into lakes and rivers.

It's possible to buy Phosphate-free dishwashing detergent. I know that Seventh Generation makes one; it seems to work pretty well, but I don't normally run with really heavily soiled loads.

Why do I get the feeling all the 'project partners' manufacture dishwashers?

# Arcelik
# Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte
# Electrolux
# Indesit

I love these sorts of 'studies'. :\

I have yet to have used a dishwasher that cleans as well as manual cleaning, either if I rinse everything off before I put it in, or if I don't. I think that the main problem involved in this is that these are not new machines. And That's not to say that they didn't manufacture them to clean as well as cleaning by hand, because when we bought them new, it was comprable, but as they age, I think that it becomes more difficult to maintain the same level of clean, and thus you have to buy a new machine every four or five years, which is very environmentally damaging, or you have to scrub everything before you put it in the dishwasher, which means you'll be using more water than if you just washed it by hand.
I could be wrong about this of course, but if there is anyone out there who hasn't experienced this, I'd like to know. :) thanks.

This may be true for the general pubic, but I question whether it holds for those who are more environmently conscious?
When I wash dishes by hand, I only use a trickle of water and turn the tap on and off frequently. You can test this method yourself by seeing how much the sink gets filled up after you finish. Unless the dishes are greasy (rare given my vegetarian meals) I only use water, then set them to air dry. It takes very little time. And I only need a few dishes.
I find dishwashers frustrating when the knife or dish you need it sitting dirty waiting for a full load, or waiting to finish. Then there is the environmental costs associated with building and disposing of dishwashers.
And I even know someone who captures her dish water in a bowl to water her plants.

This article is totaly bunk. For starters a diswash requires massive amounts of energy and raw resources to create. Then when it is washing, it uses way more water than filling your sink half way up. It also uses more energy to move all the gears and motors to pump the water and wash the dishes and run the timer.

Hand washing blows away dishwashers any day. It is also cheaper for your pocket book. But it does require more physical energy. Which means you are gaining less weight than sitting around while your dishwasher does the work you lazy sod.

No chance this is correct. If the authors of this "study" need someone to test against a machine, I'll happily be the subject.

Do they also factor in the energy embedded in the lifecycle of the machine?

To be fair, I've spent plenty of time trying the environmentally firendly dishwashing techniques, and it does not hold a candle at the clenliness of a good dishwash.

I was reading Chris Brainard's post, which I agree with, and when I read the last line, for some reason I just started laughing SO hard. Thanks, Chris! I needed that.

I am suspicious of the sponsors, but as far as effectiveness of cleaning goes, I never pre-wash the dishes before auto dishwashing and the dishes are always spotless as long as I use premium detergent and hot water. I've owned 2 units over 26 years though I only wash about once a week. I don't think it uses as much water as some people think. Consider this: the water level is so low you can open the door without a flood in mid-cycle and there's only about an inch of water used in each wash or rinse cycle. I always wash a full load for greatest efficiency. I'd also like to know if the study considered other factors such as energy inputs during manufacture. I suspect that spread over the life of the machine it still might come out ahead. Another consideration: the special detergent used is highly alkaline which should help de-acidify our acid lakes (though salinity would be driven up as a result). I'm not sure which is worse, salinity or acidity.

The study description says it was based upon the average consumption of Europeans hand washers (103 liters of water, 2.5 kWH of energy) compared to the standard conditions of new dishwashers with the highest rating by the European Energy Labelling Scheme (15 liters of water, 1.04 kWH of energy) for washing 12 place settings. Even if you used only a fifth of the water of the average handwasher, the dishwasher is still more water efficient. It did not mention the energy inputs of manufacture.

I would suggest that the "project partners" are credited as such because they donated materials (dishwashers) to the project.
You'll notice this in all sorts of studies. Obviously the "project partners" would prefer the study to show that their products perform favourably, but whether or not dishwashers won it's likely that they would still appear as partners.

The 1/6 of the water statisticmay be partially because some europeans seem to wash up with the water constantly running. I was in Austria for half of last year and noticed this several times.

Different cultures seem to have completely different approaches to water and other resource use. I'm sure I'm not the only Australian who watched bemusedly as earlier this year American design and Green sites (not sure if TreeHugger was one of them) reported on the "new" dual-flush toilets. These having been the standard in Australia for the last 20 years.

"The study description says it was based upon the average consumption of Europeans hand washers (103 liters of water, 2.5 kWH of energy) compared to the standard conditions of new dishwashers with the highest rating by the European Energy Labelling Scheme (15 liters of water, 1.04 kWH of energy) for washing 12 place settings. Even if you used only a fifth of the water of the average handwasher, the dishwasher is still more water efficient. It did not mention the energy inputs of manufacture."

There's a problem right there - comparing an average with an extreme.

As for 103 liters - all I can say for me personally is that my standard soak basin is a 2 liter steel bowl, or if I have a lot of dishes (especially large items), I'll fill up one side of the sink, which is roughly 13.5 liters. I then use a minimal amount of rinse water and air dry in a rack. It's hard to imagine that a dishwasher would have enough capacity to wash all my dishes and untensils for a larger load, and I certainly wouldn't run through fragile items, rubber- or plasticware, wood items, or knives in a dishwasher. Same goes for rinsing some recyclables before recycling.

I also have friends with a couple of kids that got tired of the effort of handwashing and ended up getting a dishwasher. Then, they had persistent spotting and clouding on their glassware and utensils, and to deal with that problem, had a full-house water softener installed in their basement.

Reminds me of the sort of chain of escalating consumption which occurs with things like lawnmowers, cars, etc. My approach is to stick with simplicity unless it's clearly unwarranted. Seems to work out well every time.

As for the energy consumption figures, I find it hard to believe that a full dishwasher only needs about 3500 BTUs/1 kwH for the hot water, drying, moving parts, electronics, etc

103 litres of water to wash 12 place settings?? that's insane. That's 10 buckets of water!

I start a small amount of hot water with eco detergent in teh sink, then wash glasses which i then rinse with hot water over the sink, thereby filling the sink more so there's more hot water when I get to bigger itmes. They don't need to be submersed, just washed with hot soapy sponge. All the non-glass items I rinse with a trickle of cold water, no need for hot. I wuld like to get dishwasher & had them in previous places, but I reckon the energy & water in making it, shipping it, operating it is comparitively more than we're led to believe. havine a dishwasher also encourages you to double up on items too, so you have clean utensils left to use while the dirty ones are accumulating in the washer

sometimes I reserve the hot water from cooking & then pour it in pots & pans to soak while eating dinner, that helps. the vege-washing water is saved in a bowl & poured on the balcony plants, of course.

We just moved into a newer home - built in 1989 which still has the original dishwasher installed. It works very well - much better than the 7 year old GE model in out former home. We have NONE of the problems discussed above regarding spotting, dirty dishes, etc. Just use a good brand of detergent and some Jet Dry and the dishes and flatware come out spotless.
I'm of the opinion that some models do work better than others. And we're fortunate to have such an item. Rather than worry about saving a few pennies on water, you should look at the largest energy hog in your kitchen - the Fridge. We just replaced the old model with an new and much larger Energy Star model and have been saving at least $10.00 in electrical costs every month. Not to mention that we've gained five cubic feet of space.

103 litres, 2.5 kWh and 79 minutes!?!? What are they doing, heating a lake with a sun lamp and having a kip on a pre-positioned tea-towel?