Eco-Tip: Dishwasher

A very simple tip to save both water and electricity (or natural gas, depending on what your water heater runs on): Use the "light" cycle on your dishwasher instead of the "normal" one. That's what we do and we haven't noticed any difference in the cleanliness of the dishes. Granted, in some rare cases the "normal" or even "heavy" cycles may be needed, but for everyday loads it should be more than enough (unless you regularly eat glue and cement). A collateral benefit is that you get the hear the noise made by the dishwasher for a shorter amount of time. Also, don't forget to only run the dishwasher when it is full (no half loads), and if you are planning to buy a new dishwasher soon, don't forget to look for the most water and energy efficient model that you can find (start by narrowing it down to the Energy Star models, then get the best one that you can afford).