Regarding the study about the average American teenage taking 45 minutes worth of hot showers every day, that equates to about 112.5 gallons of water (assuming a standard 2.5 gallons per minute showerhead * 45 minutes). That's absolutely unconscionable considering, the severe water shortage around the world and even here in the US. I live in Atlanta and we're entering our second year of extreme drought, and to think that almost 112 gallons just goes down the drain unnecessarily! To contast our wasteful lifestyle, the average African uses about 5-7 gallons of water per day for everything!

To start with every household should install water saving showerheads. Just going to a 1.5 gallon per minute showerhead would take the water usage to 67.5 gallons for the 45 minute shower.
Which brings me to the second step , why are teenagers taking such long showers? A showerhead should be designed that automatically turns off the water after 10 minutes and can only be turned on again after a brief delay. Short of that, every household should install a 5 or 10 minute shower timer.

The problem is lack of information. If people could be educated on simple ways to conserve water, we would drastically cut down our water consumption.

Have you given any thought into Green IT? I’ve become obsessed with products that curtail the energy or watt consumption in small and large corporations. It begins with looking at simple, neat and efficient IT solutions. Those large, hard to cool, specially built server rooms, which use to be the piece de resistance of all new corporate architecture, is now considered a huge opportunity to save money though virtualization, wake-on-LAN technologies, and relatively simple reporting which can reveal the actual use of those old server dinosaurs (typical use is 5-15%). Those “monsters of old” consume so much electricity and require an amazing amount of cooling and heating resources.

Do you know or track any legislative bodies that are proposing local, state or national measures to help regulate big energy consumption? I would welcome the opportunity to watch and support efforts in this area. Thanks! PS…When my G4 gets too hot, I put a towel or other soft material below it to absorb the heat.

I will never stop being wasteful. I like my lights, tv radio and computer on 24 hours a day. I also like taking really long showers. My utilities are included in the rent. All I have to do is pay my rent so I dont have to worry about high energy and water bills.