Go ahead and use your dishwasher

andrea castelli / CC

About 19 percent of dishwasher machines in U.S. households are not used. Put another way, 17 million households that have a machine that will clean their plates forgo the luxury because of the perception that dishwashers are inefficient and ineffective. Except that it’s not true. The EPA says modern dishwashers use 10 percent of the water that hand-washing does.