Project Background
Canadians have some of the highest personal water footprints in world, using an average 223 L of residential water per person in 2013.1 When that water must be heated for hot showers, it can use a tremendous amount of energy. In Canadian households, water heating accounted for 17% of total residential energy useand that energy typically comes from burning fossil fuels.2 Here at the University of Waterloo, water is heated using natural gas and therefore contributes to our total operational emissions. Most showers on campus are located in residences and in athletic facilities, with students being the majority users.
The University of Waterloo has two sustainability goals that are related to shower use on campus:
Environmental Sustainability Strategy Objective O4: by 2025, reduce water intensity by 5% per square metre from a 2015 baseline;
Shift Neutral Climate Action Plan target of reducing operational emissions by 35% below 2015 levels by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
The University of Waterloo is therefore looking for a novel and creative communication strategy to promote shorter showers. This work relates to Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 13.
Project Examples
- Conducting a literature review to understand the environmental impacts of excess hot water use and common attitudinal barriers to reduced shower duration.
- Conducting a student survey on attitudes and barriers to reduced shower duration at the University of Waterloo.
- Estimating the water use intensity and greenhouse gas emissions impacts of widespread adoption of reduced shower (e.g., if everyone reduced their total weekly shower time by x%, then …).
- Researching best practices from other major institutions for communication strategies that encourage shorter showers, including strategies that use humour.
- Developing a creative communications strategy for shorter showers. The strategy should include messages, images, recommended medium for dissemination and recommended locations for printed messages (e.g., stickers placed above shower knobs).
- Making recommendations for how to assess the impact of that communications strategy without the use of water and energy meters.
1 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/12-581-x/2017001/sec-1-eng.htm
2 https://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/statistics/neud/dpa/showTable.cfm?type=CP§or=res&juris=ca&rn=2&page =0