[jwr]

On every visit to the US (I'm from Europe), I find it amazing how much water gets wasted. Monster-flush toilets, vertical-axis washing machines, and the most egregious offender: hotel shower. The first time I saw those, it took a while before I realized you just can't limit the flow of water, by design.

[ghshephard]

Depends on the part of the United States. California has laws mandating low-flow toilets, showers, and interior faucets. That's been the code for the last 20 or so years.

Last year California became the first state to require re-fitting all existing structures with low-flow systems: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/low-flow-toilets-re...

[mhb]

Where did you go? Some places have plenty of water. We don't all live in California.

[vacri]

In my travel across the US, I noticed exactly one washing line - put up in a hostel room by a Swede (no doubt they're not quite that rare, but I didn't see them). When summer comes along and the electric grid starts to fail, I hear a lot of Americans talking about the burden of airconditioning, but it's very rare that they talk about tumble-dryers, which gobble a hell of a lot of power.

[ghshephard]

We had controlled rolling grid outages in the United states when an combination of poorly thought out deregulation and the machinations of Enron (who organized for the shut down plans in the middle of peak usage) drove the wholesale cost of electricity into the stratosphere.

There is a pretty major water crisis in the western states, particularly California, but very little in the way of "electric grid failures."

[opendais]

Many, many people use gas tumble dryers in the US. They are slightly more upfront but 50-75% cheaper in the long run to operate.

[Gracana]

Most people hang their laundry somewhere in their back yards, not the front.