Europe’s energy crisis brings calls for 5-minute showers

“Sometimes I used it a bit to relax," she said of her extended shower routine. She would often daydream and lose track of time. “I think I’m probably not the only person in the world" doing that, she added.

Now the Dutch government is trying to get the Noordwijk resident, a 37-year-old executive for an online retailer, and others like her to save some of that hot water and help build the Netherlands’ energy reserves, following Russia’s squeeze on gas supplies in response to Western sanctions for invading Ukraine.

The average shower in the Netherlands lasts nine minutes, according to Milieu Centraal, a government-affiliated research organization. It says cutting that to under five minutes could save a household 60 cubic meters a year of natural gas, the fuel many homes use to heat water. Before the energy crisis, 40 billion cubic meters of gas was used annually nationwide, according to Pieter ten Bruggencate, a spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate.

The speedier showers could also save each household about €130 a year, the government says. In one northeastern province, local authorities handed out timers to prod people along, just as Ms. Generaal’s boyfriend did.

The transition hasn’t always been easy. Ms. Generaal’s timer broke. There is some debate as to how it happened.

Rising energy bills and a possible shortage have proved motivation enough, though. “Now I do five minutes and stick to the normal temperature," she said, adding she has cut the number of baths she takes to one a month. “You can relax somewhere else."

Dutch households’ energy cost jumped to an average €503 in August from €142 in August of 2021, according to Hans de Kok, the CEO of price-comparison website Pricewise. It could get worse, with Russia having halted gas flow to Europe through a major pipeline last week.

Mr. ten Bruggencate said that people need to “save as much energy as possible to ensure that we can fill the gas storage sufficiently and that we can survive the winter warm."

A broad campaign to do that is working, he said. About half of residents now take five-minute showers all or most of the time, according to a government survey.

Other European countries have also begun restrictions, such as temperature limits in public buildings, and are urging lifestyle changes. The Danish government has a short-shower campaign similar to the Netherlands’. Some German officials have urged residents to shorten or outright cut some showers.

Thea Derks, a music journalist in Amsterdam, said she has always tried to limit energy usage but has been even more conscious of the need since Russia invaded Ukraine. She takes a shower just once a week and keeps it under five minutes, and the rest of the time just uses a washcloth. Ms. Derks, 58, relies on a bike for transportation but said she doesn’t get sweaty enough to warrant frequent showers, calling them “completely superfluous."

To limit energy in cooking, Ms. Derks now brings foods such as rice to a boil and then turns off the stove and puts the pot in a cocoon made from her duvet to box in the heat. To wash dishes, she uses an electric kettle to heat some water instead of using gas-heated water from the sink.

The Dutch government is also encouraging people to hang their clothes to dry instead of using a dryer, use a fan instead of the air conditioning and keep the blinds closed on a hot day.

Reint Jan Renes, a behavioral scientist who advises the government on getting residents to comply with its campaigns, said the Dutch people like to save money and are environmentally aware. A 2018 tally found the country of 17 million had nearly 23 million bikes.

However, Mr. Renes said, people are skeptical of requests from the government, and don’t generally make personal sacrifices without a good reason. To him, the energy crisis offers an opportunity to change things. “What we’ve learned from the last few years, particularly the pandemic, is that there is a window of opportunity where [concern] increases," he said.

For some, the shower remains a sacred space.

Meindert Boersma, a 23-year-old student in Friesland province, cares so much about the climate that in traveling to Greece last month, he took a four-day train ride to avoid the carbon emissions involved in flying. Yet Mr. Boersma has no plans to shorten his showers, which he said max out at 10 minutes.

He said the energy saved from shorter showers is minimal, while wholesale changes, such as energy cuts to major industries, are needed to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. “An energy policy that only focuses on individual consumers is not only unfair but also ineffective," Mr. Boersma said.

In any case, says Relinde van Dorresteijn, a 25-year-old Amsterdam resident, five minutes isn’t enough for a decent shower.

“I’ve gotta wash the hair, shave my legs and everything. That takes 10 or 12 minutes," she said.

Ms. van Dorresteijn said that when she stays with her parents, she rebels. Her father has a six-minute shower timer. She flips it twice.