There are many things you can do to minimize the energy used in washing dishes. First of all, depending upon what your ‘style’ and habits are, washing by hand may or may not be more conserving of water and energy than using an automatic dishwasher. This is a comparison that is hard to quantify in general so we won’t try to cover it here.

But the cardinal rules are as follows:

1. Pick the most energy efficient dishwasher model available (CEE Super Efficient Home Appliance Initiative - Dishwashers)
2. Use whatever energy efficiency settings are available on your model
3. Use the ‘temperature boost’ or equivalent from your model. That is, let your dishwasher heat its own water if it can. It is more efficient to let the dishwasher heat the water than draw it from your central tank.
4. Only run the dishwasher for a full load of dishes.
5. Hand wash the ones that are not greasy and just had a few crumbs on them (needing only a quick rinse). Save the ‘whole 9 yards’ for the seriously dirty dishes.
6. Use the air-dry setting rather than the ‘sani’ setting which heats the dishes to dry them, unless there is an ill person in the house or some other reason to require extreme sanitation measures.
7. Better yet, stop your dishwasher at the beginning of the dry cycle and simply open the door and slide out the bins. The heat of the dishes will make for fairly rapid self-drying.

There are probably other tips out there. Write us with more suggestions, or better yet, become an editor.