We have gas and electric “smart” meters that send our energy usage directly to the suppliers. It also means that we have a little gadget which allows you to see a visualisation of your current energy use.
During the recent energy crisis we started looking more closely at this and noticed just how much energy the dishwasher was using every day—rather a lot!
I’m not sure of the exact difference in energy use between an electric dishwasher on for 1 to 2 hours vs a gas combo boiler on for around 5 minutes but it’s significant.
So we decided to switch back to doing the washing up by hand for a while and then just kept doing it!
A busy family produces a lot of washing up. I try to see it as a daily opportunity to be mindful if I can and to continue to use less energy! 🙏
Of course I started to listen closer to the range of sounds that were being produced, and recorded them!
There is often an understandable tendency with field recording to go for the more “glamorous” city cacophonies or natural soundscapes. But I love to listen to and record everyday household sounds as well.
The washing up is a varied sonic performance that must be different for everybody. An overall structure and length related to the day’s activities — the amount and types of objects you are washing up, the sound of your boiler or water heater, the materials and sizes of your sink and taps, how busy or relaxed you are!
This is a fairly standard business like version of our washing up. The last 30 seconds of “draining” is my favourite part!
I wonder what a library of “washing up” recordings would be like? How different would those recordings be from each other?
Does this sound like your washing up?
Zoom F3 Field Recorder with stereo omni Clippy microphones.
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