What is environmentally friendlier - washing dishes by hand or a dishwasher?

Bosch claim a study shows the latter is better for the environment because it uses less water but I thought the dishwashing liquid used in dishwashers was harsher.





Is there any point getting one for one person?What is environmentally friendlier - washing dishes by hand or a dishwasher?
I would think that doing dishes by hand is 'friendlier.' The dishwasher uses a great deal of electricity, usually provided by coal or other fossil fuel burning generators.





I don't think a dishwasher for one would be prudent. Too much money!What is environmentally friendlier - washing dishes by hand or a dishwasher?
Apparently the really new ones use as little water as hand washing, and you can by environmentally friendly dishwasher detergent same as you can washing up liquid. We had a small one for two of us, and to be honest we didn't use it that much. We had problem getting dinner plates that actually fitted it so for a while we had to wash up anyway, and even when we got some that fitted it took us a couple of days to fill it up, sometimes three if we'd been out to eat, and it just got really smelly really quickly. We don't use it at all now. I didn't find it saved much time, it was really noisy, the detergent and salt etc was expensive, it took ages unless you put it on a quick cycle in which case some things didn't come out clean. You also need to soak some things, and you always need to take any leftover bits of food out, you had to make sure it was stacked properly, and things like oven dishes with chicken grease on, or plastic containers, just didn't come clean at all. Having said that, I do miss the lovely clean glasses and it was handy if you had people round for dinner or at Christmas but it wasn't really worth it for 2 people so I'd assume not for one person. If you do decide to get one, don't get a Candy one. When we moved into our flat all the appliances were Candy and 3 years down the line we've had problems with every single appliance.
Use the dishwasher, but make sure it is stacked well and full. For a tip regarding liquids etc. take a look at the site below. I used it and is saves me loads of money. Tip No. 10





If you don't fill the dishwasher fully each time you are wasting money. An added advantage of the dishwasher is it usually washes cleaner than you would do by hand. Well, that's the theory anyway!





Another tip - if you stick half a lemon on one of the dishwasher spikes, it makes the whole machine and crockery small fresher.
Wash them by hand. I used to have a dishwasher and my water bill would be around $100 every three months. After it broke and I started washing them by hand my water bill is now half of what it used to be and there are four of us in our family.