Penn State University Park has approximately 40,000 students, with 37% or 25,200 (40,000 multiplied by 0.37 equals 14,800 and 40,000-14,800=25,200) living on campus. Assuming that each student takes at least one 10 minute shower per day, and using this useful calculator for calculating energy used for showers (and using national averages since I could not find Penn State’s own exact numbers), each day Penn State uses about 99,515 in energy to heat around 630,000 gallons just for showers. Of course this isn’t an exact calculation, as there is no way to know how long every student showers for and if some students take more than one shower a day because of exercise and such. These numbers, though large, seem normal for the amount of students living on campus. However, if we could decrease the amount of energy used and money spent, our campus would probably be better for it.
3 thoughts on “Showers at PSU (Main Campus)”
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I agree with both of the above comments. Limiting shower time and even the number of showers would save tons of water. An easy way to do this is by maybe not washing your hair every day. It sounds gross, but actually, washing your hair daily is damaging to your hair, and overall hair health. This being said, ladies, it’s actually not too bad to skip a day or two on washing your hair. I know the bulk of time I spend in the shower is washing and conditioning my hair, so skipping a few days saves a lot of shower time! Most men take fairly short showers anyway, so this is more of a word of advice for the women reading this.
We could lower this number even more if everyone only showered about 4 times a week. Though campus would be a lot more stank, we would be saving a whole lot of money for the school in the long run. And what matters more: personal hygiene or makin’ bank? After a while we wouldn’t even need to shower anymore, since we’d be swimming in the green all day.
Spend less time in the shower. Try to get your shower time down to a single song.
Also, installing a low-flow showerhead can save more water and also save money. Conventional showerheads flow at 5 gallons per minute or more, whereas low-flow showerheads typically flow at 2.5 gallons per minute (or less!). Think of baths as an occasional treat and stick to showers. The average bath uses 35 to 50 gallons of water, whereas a 10-minute shower with a low-flow showerhead only uses 25 gallons, it can save at least 10 gallons of water per day per person.
Therefore, penn state can save 10×25200=252000gallons per day.
Moreover, shorten showering time and water can also save energy because the energy is needed for heaten.