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Life-cycle Thinking, Analysis and Design
Published in Steffen Lehmann, Robert Crocker, Designing for Zero Waste, 2013
In order to reuse a ceramic cup, it also has to be washed. Dishwashers are generally the most energy-efficient way of cleaning dishes, but Hocking’s results found extreme sensitivity in respect to the amount of energy that a dishwasher uses, making it very important only to operate a dishwasher with a full load. Dishwashers generally require less energy and use less water than hand-washing, as they are very efficient users of hot water. The efficiency of a dishwasher and that of the energy source that powers it determine how much energy is required for each wash. Hocking based his analysis on Canadian electricity inventory data, and the results could potentially be more detrimental to the case for the reusable cup had the study been repeated using Australian data, owing to Australia’s reliance on low-grade coal in the energy supply chain. This sensitivity to washing energy could mean that a reusable cup, if washed by hand or if an inefficient dishwasher powered by an inefficient energy source was used, would never reach breakeven with a foam cup, regardless of the number of reuses. As with all LCAs, the data used in Hocking’s study are regionally specific, and the LCA will yield different results if conducted using alternative inventory data.
Stability of Lake Sammamish phosphorus despite land use changes
Published in Lake and Reservoir Management, 2019
Eugene B. Welch, Debra Bouchard, Jonathan Frodge, Jean M. Jacoby
Other regulatory changes may have resulted in less TP loading to tributaries to the lake. These changes included bans in 2007 on P in dish soap, dishwasher detergent, and laundry detergent, which would otherwise be released in rural areas from on-site septic systems, which can yield P in this area (Jacoby et al. 1997). The changes also included the implementation of the King County Critical Areas Ordinance, which intended to limit development in riparian areas along tributaries to the lake and on steep slopes that might erode and result in sediment and TP transport to the lake.