Well....it started up this morning....the Premier-President of Baden-Wurttemberg (the state to the SW of Germany, a Green Party guy) said there's no reason to have daily showers....in that it'd make sense to save energy, to sponge-up daily instead of a full bath/shower.
I sat and paused over this idea.
He's trying to suggest that those 21-odd baths that you, your spouse, and one kid take each week....could be lessened to just three baths (Saturday evening) and all that heated water would be saved.
Personally, I rarely use more than 180 seconds of heated water. But I'd admit the German wife of mine probably uses more than 500 seconds of heated water.
When you go back to 1920s/1930s Germany (US as well)....it was common for one heated bath per week, with a wash-cloth or sponge used for the remaining six days a week.
Would Germans go this way? I think it's generally odd....if you observe HR (Hessen public TV)....some new trend or fad is created monthly now, and some 'group' is pushing an agenda to trigger change. This one-bath a week thing? I could see the public TV folks pursuing this agenda.
Outsiders looking at this and shaking their head? Well....in the German mind...every bit of energy saved (even two less baths a week)....is some Kilowatt hour of natural somewhere in the mix.
Just be glad that flushing a toilet doesn't involve heated stuff or power-usage.
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I have a solar water heater on my roof and have used no natural gas in the last few weeks to heat my water. Surprisingly, even in winter, as long as there is sunshine, I have ample supply of hot water at almost no cost. Now we get to solar electricity. We pay 36 cent per kw and, for producing electricity and adding it to the grid we are paid 6 cent per kw. If one wishes you can pay the electrical supplier 20 euro a month to "save" power you produced during peak times. Solar panels may be a good idea if you have some sort of storage batteries in your house, but even that costs a fortune.
Back before Covid, I went to the big solar-show in Munich. I consumed around eight hours of demo and knowledge on solar stuff. There were a lot of positives, but then came the cost factor, certain limits, and questions over how disposal of the panels would occur in 20 years (the panels are pretty toxic). I walked out a bit dismayed.
On my ballpark figures...from Dec, Jan and Feb...locally, I figure that I rarely get more than 3 hours a day of sunshine. Course, the past 90 days....absolute maximum per day of sunshine.
In the past week? My neighbor put up a very limited solar panel arrangement...self-done job.
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