What We Want for Next Christmas: Indulgence Shower
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 12.25.08
TreeHugger has pretty well gotten its fill of gifts for the year, but it's never too early to start looking forward to next year's festive holiday season. And we've already found what we want: the Indulgence Shower.
Half way between the navy shower and the low flow showerhead, this smart concept cuts way back on water consumption -- 56 percent less than a regular showerhead; 26 percent less than a low-flow model -- without sacrificing much warmth or comfort. Anybody who's taken a navy shower -- the kind where you turn the water off while soaping up -- on a chilly December morning will appreciate being able to stay warm the whole time you're showering, while still saving bucketfuls of water. How does the Indulgence Shower do it?
Guilt-free warm showers, together at last?
According to the site, the Indulgence concept uses a "rinse-mist-rinse" sequence (rather than "rinse-off-rinse" with a navy shower, or "rinse-rinse-rinse" with a regular shower) to save water when you aren't using it. It looks like it works like this: Get in, rinse off, get soapy while the mist helps keep you warm, rinse off, and you're done. It probably won't keep you quite as warm as a regular shower, but it sure won't use as much water.
The sequence, set at one minute for the initial rinse, four minutes for soaping (seems a bit high, no?) and two minutes for the final rinse, can be modified by the user to fit his or her individual showering style. The sequence is initially set this way to account for a 7-minute shower -- seems a tad long for the average TreeHugger -- so setting it for less time would make it even easier to save water.
Saving water and energy: Where the numbers come from
Where do the numbers come from? As with any comparison, some basic assumptions have to be made. In this case, the 56 percent water and energy savings over a regular shower head, and 26 percent over a low-flow shower head assume that equals 3577 & 1022 gallons, respectively, based on 365 7-minute showers. Shorter (and fewer) showers will change that number significantly, but the fact remains: unless you're a hardcore navy showerer, this'll use less water than you're using now.
Sadly, it appears to remain just a concept, but it's good enough that we'd like to see it by this time next year. Santa, if you're reading this, why don't you see what you can do? To get started, check out the Behance Network.
More shower-related reading in TreeHugger and Planet Green
Quench Water-Recycling Shower - Guilt-Free Indulgence?
Getting Ready for Earth Day: Save Water When You Shower
Navy Showers: Water Saving Goes Hardcore
Gray Water Package Units from Brac Systems
A Shower of Green: 4 Tips for a Greener Rinse
Buddy Up in the Shower and other Sexy Ways to a Greener Lifestyle
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not too far away from the sonic shower (ie star trek)
but till then ill keep taking my short and cold showers (no shock from the cold air if you're using cold water!)
it's also a good tantric exercise...
This is similar to the "instructables" "Cozy Low Energy Shower" linked from my name, and to the Sunfrost "Energy Efficient Shower", http://www.sunfrost.com/efficient_shower.html
That is a misleading graph they included with that - even if it does produce a 50% savings, the graph is showing total energy usage over time, not just energy usage over time.
Yeah, you know, lately I have only been bumping 3 lines a day instead of the usual 5 that I was doing before cutting back.