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<h3>Purpose</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal">The purpose of this procedure is to become conscious of the water and energy that you and the members of your household use when you shower. Cutting the amount of time each member of your household spends showering will allow you to make a significant reduction in the amount of energy and water you use and still keep you nice and clean. <span style="color: blue;"><strong>This Nugget is worth 2 points for every shower you (and anyone in your household) limit to 5 minutes or less, and 4 points for every shower you skip.&nbsp; <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br />
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<h3>Fast Facts</h3>
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    <li style="color: black;" class="MsoNormal">A 10-minute shower (the U.S. average), without the use of a low-flow showerhead, can generate as much as 4 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2). So let&rsquo;s say you shower 5 days a week; just by cutting your shower time to 5 minutes, you&rsquo;d be cutting your CO2 emissions by 520 pounds. And if your average shower is normally longer than 10 minutes, the savings would be even greater.</li>
    <li style="color: black;" class="MsoNormal">Because water from sinks and showers (also called greywater) is mixed with toilet waste, it all gets sent through energy intensive sewage treatment plants. So by reducing your greywater, you reduce downstream water treatment loads, thereby saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.</li>
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<h3>What to Do</h3>
<ol>
    <li>Basically, this is a very simple procedure: simply limit your showers to 5 minutes! However, timing your showers can take a bit of technique. If you have a timer on your watch or a clock in the bathroom (that you can read from inside the shower), use that. An egg timer in the bathroom works, as long as you can hear it over the noise of the shower. Start timing as soon as you turn on the water!</li>
    <li>See who else in your household wants to time their showers. Offer to help by starting and stopping the stopwatch if they want help. If they don&rsquo;t want help or don&rsquo;t want to time their shower, that&rsquo;s okay. DO NOT make this a guilt trip. If you do, it may fire up Ten Pin, the Level 3 mini-boss.</li>
    <li>Log your 5-minute showers for one week in your Nugget Tracking worksheet (online at Google Docs). Commit to 5-minute showers and you'll get credit for 3 MONTHS with NO further tracking. Recommit to 5-minute showers by tracking 1 WEEK per QUARTER for maximum points. Double points for skipping showers! et up a shower log for each person who times their showers.</li>
    <li>Check your household water and fuel usage (or electric bill if you have an electric hot water heater) to see if you're actually saving water and energy. If you don't see any savings, see if you can figure out why. Maybe you are using extra water and energy in other areas of your household. Or maybe your shower timing is off somewhere. Checking your usage is a good way to get a complete picture of your household resource consumption. Keep in mind that limiting your showers doesn&rsquo;t do as much good if you are increasing usage in other areas at the same time.</li>
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<h3>Quick Tips</h3>
<ul>
    <li>Does your shower have a flow controller? If so, after you get wet try turning the flow down as far it will go &ndash; usually to a trickle. Do your soaping up and shampooing, then turn it back up.</li>
    <li>Save the shaving for out of the shower! Shaving in the shower gobbles up water. Either shave over the sink, or sit on the edge of the tub (and don&rsquo;t run the water while you&rsquo;re shaving!)</li>
    <li>Something else you can do&hellip;installing low-flow showerheads will increase your water and energy savings significantly. See the Low-Flow/Aerator Nugget for details.</li>
</ul>
<h3>More Info</h3>
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    <li style="" class="MsoNormal">This activity is based on &ldquo;Am I Clean Yet?&rdquo;, a chapter in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Low-Carbon-Diet-Pounds-Be-Solution/dp/0963032720">Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds</a>  , by David Gershon. Check it out for more carbon-saving activities!</li>
</ul>
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    <li style="" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">The City of Portland Water Bureau (Oregon) offers a <a msonormal="" href="http://www.portlandonline.com/WATER/index.cfm">free shower timer</a>.
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    </span></li>
</ul>
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