Green Tip of the Day: Your Dishwasher Is a Friend to the Environment

There are two little known facts about one of our society's favorite kitchen appliance, the dishwasher. First, I recently read that the drying cycle on a dishwasher sucks up half the total energy use of the appliance. So I tried running a load with the drying cycle off. The difference? None. The dishes had the same amount of moisture on them as they did with the drying cycle.


Next, like many people, I hate the bleachy smell of conventional dishwasher soap in my kitchen. But eco-friendly cleaners don't always get the dishes quite as clean. Then I stumbled upon this recipe.


Here it is below:

• 2 c borax
• 2 c Arm & Hammer washing soda
• 2 c lemi shine
• 1 c kosher salt

It's billed as being good for hard water, which I don't have, but it seems to do the trick anyway. And I did not bother to buy kosher salt.  If you have trouble finding some of this stuff, ask at your local hardware store. I did end up having to order the LemiShine via www.alice.com/.