Recently our faithful dishwasher of 17 years sprang more leaks than a soaker hose, and the summoned repairman began mumbling the last rites. Sorting out an environmentally friendly replacement in these water and energy-starved times was not a simple exercise, however. Would that I had the decisiveness the Prime Minister and his colleagues in the National Party show in approaching such matters.
You see, our ancient machine came from an age when dishwashers only had one or two cycles, and were plumbed directly into the hot water system. These days, I found, almost all dishwashers start with cold water, and heat it to precisely the temperature necessary for a specific wash or rinse in a specific cycle programmed to clean dishes in any one of a dozen different ways. So, the repairman told us, a new dishwasher would require changing our fitting to the cold water tap, and involve a plumber.
But isn’t it wasteful of energy to have to heat the water inside the dishwasher each time?, I naively asked. Oh, no, said the repairman, shocked at my ignorance. These modern units use so little water, that it barely makes any difference in energy use. And, having the water at precisely the right temperature does a much better job, and cuts the amount of polluting detergent you have to use.
When the delivery man arrived with the new dishwasher, he discovered he couldn’t install it, because we needed a plumber to change the fitting to the cold tap. Why don’t you just put it on the hot like before?, he asked. I virtuously repeated what the repairman had told me. No need to worry about that, he said. The machine will only use pretty much the water that’s already in the pipe from the hot water service, and it will be cold. And if you’re concerned that you can’t make full use of all your different cycles, nobody I know uses anything but the normal cycle anyway.
The only thing that was obvious to me was how little I knew of the environmental complexities of the modern dishwasher. How would I cope with buying a new microwave, let alone a nuclear reactor? So, imagine my admiration when I read that the Prime Minister has already determined that nuclear power is clean and green, and can’t understand why everyone isn’t behind it.
Where I would have been left floundering, asking