Shower Better, Save Energy

Showering is an important part of the day—and one of the leading ways Americans use water in the home, accounting for nearly 17% of indoor water use. Every time you take a shower, you also use energy to heat the water to your showerhead. But you can shower better by replacing your old showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model and save water, energy, and money.

By replacing just one showerhead with a WaterSense-labeled model, EPA estimates the average family can save 2,900 gallons of water, the amount of electricity needed to power its home for 13 days, and more than $70 in energy and water costs every year. 

It takes energy to heat and deliver water to the bathtub, faucet, and other fixtures in your home that use hot water. Interested in knowing more about how saving water also saves energy? Learn more about the "drops to watts connection." Kids can also play a role in saving both energy and water. Below are learning resources to help them find out how water and energy go hand in hand.

• Make the Drops to Watts Connection (2 pp, 1.5 MB, About PDF)
• Student Learning Resource (2 pp, 545 K, About PDF)

Changes made at home will add up quickly across the country. If every home in the U.S. replaced existing showerheads with WaterSense-labeled models, more than 260 billion gallons of water and nearly $5.1 billion in water and energy costs could be saved across the country annually!