Bidets have been, in this era of all kinds of developments, a revolution of sorts.
With their cost efficiency, low water and electricity usage, bidets have proved themselves worth considering over toilet paper.
Wondering how and how much money do bidets actually save?
Well, fret not! We have got you covered with all the info you need on bidets and the cost of using them.
So let me answer the main question first.
Yes! bidets do save money. By cutting the use of toilet paper by over 62% for an average person, a bidet can save around $110 per person per year. In 5 years a bidet can save more than $3700 for an average American household.
Let see these points in detail and try to understand how bidet can actually save you money.
Bidet Saves Money On Toilet Paper
Before we focus on this point, remember that buying and then installing a bidet is a one-time investment that you will not need to recur time and again.
Toilet paper, on the other hand, is a recurring investment that you will have to carry on your entire life.
Any bidet of moderately good quality will last you a minimum of 6 to 9 years.
On the other hand, toilet paper holds one of the top positions of the household product that was sold the most in the year 2020.
An average household in the US requires about 400 toilet paper rolls in a year.
We can easily conclude that an average household in the US spends about $824 every year on toilet paper.
Keeping the calculation above in mind, we can say that within a duration of 5 years, the average US household will have spent $4120 on toilet paper.
When comparing that with a bidet, installing and running a bidet happens to be way cheaper.
An average bidet will cost you about $350-400 alongside the minimal water and electricity usage.
It will also last you about 7 years.
So, in 5 years, you can save about $3700.
Saving Money On Water
If we start looking into the reasons why we must shift to bidets from toilet paper immediately, one of the most obvious reasons would be to save a huge array of natural resources because toilet paper, after all, is paper itself and it definitely requires
● Wood
● Water for toilet paper production.
Overconsumption of these two natural resources might go a long way in affecting the environment and causing climatic changes over time.
Water Consumption: Toilet Paper VS Bidets
It might seem from a distance that bidets tend to use more water than toilet paper does.
What we do not know is the amount of water that is required to manufacture toilet paper in the industry.
Apart from 1.5 pounds of wood that is required to produce a single toilet paper roll (according to TreeHugger), 37 gallons of water are consumed while producing toilet paper.
Bidets, on the other hand, require as little as ⅛ of a gallon of water compared to the 4 gallons of water that it takes to flush the toilet just once.
Considering the fact that an average household in the US requires about 400 toilet paper rolls in a year, it is time we shift to the greener and better option: bidets.
How Much Electricity Do Bidets Use?
Technological developments all over the world have led to the improvement in nearly everything we use daily.
So far as bidets are concerned, there have been improvements too.
An average electric bidet is likely to consume nearly 211.70 kWh of electricity every year.
So, annually you will not need to spend more than $16.94 for the electricity used by your bidet.
The manufacturing process of rolls of toilet paper, on the other hand, consumes more than 17.3 terawatts of electricity every year.
To manufacture a single roll of toilet paper, 1.3 kilowatt/hours (KWh) of electricity is consumed.
Hence, for an average US household that requires about 400 rolls per year, the electricity consumption is 520 KWh.
Power Saving Mode In Bidets
Electric bidets will require minimal use of electricity for:
● Heating the seats
● Providing warm water 24/7
● Air drying
But there are certain bidets, especially the costlier ones that provide you with a power-saving mode.
Switching to this mode can help you not only to minimize the electricity usage but also the water usage at the same time.
There are a few other ways that will help you minimize electricity usage as well:
● The Tankless Heating Method: This mode ensures that the water is not warm 24/7 but is warmed up when you are about to use it.
● The Eco Mode: This mode studies your usage patterns and either turn off or puts to sleep, the entire bidet or a few chosen features at night. This helps to reduce electricity usage.
Final Words
Apart from the fact that toilet paper can become a public nuisance when it starts clogging drains, it can be concluded that toilet paper production necessarily uses up to 37 gallons of water.
Bidets use about an eighth of the entire amount of water consumed to make a single toilet paper roll.
Water treatment plants need to bear an extra load for toilet papers.
Investing in a bidet may initially seem like an unnecessary expenditure but can, as a matter of fact, lessen your costs by about 75% in the long run.
Also, remember that cutting down on toilet paper may save millions of trees that are felled to produce them.
So, why not shift to bidets NOW?
