In honor of World Water Day, I recently published a gloomy post about the water woes we face, both at home and around the world. Now that you’ve had time to absorb the depressing news, perhaps it’s time for a little bit of uplift. There is a lot that we can do at home to conserve water that will save us money and lighten our personal impact on our water resources and systems. Here are some suggestions to help you get waterwise.
Install Conserving Aerators and Showerheads
Water-efficient aerators and showerheads cost little and are extremely easy to install yourself. Faucets and showerheads typically draw between 4-8 gallons per minute (pgm). Fixtures manufactured after 1992 are required to meet a more stringent standard of 2.5 gpm but there are fixtures out there that use even less water and work just as effectively as those that meet the 1992 standards. By installing one high-efficiency showerhead and one faucet aerator, the average household would save about 7,800 gallons of water per year. You can find low-flow showerheads and aerators at Home Depot or your local hardware store.
Turn It Off When Not in Use
This may be a hackneyed piece of advice but it bears repeating because of the incredible savings potential. Let’s say you install a 1 gpm aerator on your bathroom sink but you run it while you brush your teeth. 2 minutes to brush your teeth x 2 x 365=1460 gallons of water wasted each year. Now add to it the time you leave your sink running while you’re shaving… washing your dishes… It adds up!
Fix Those Leaks
According to EPA’s Water Sense program, 10% of American homes have water leaks that waste more than 90 gallons of water each day. The most common sources of indoor water leaks include leaking toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. Is your toilet running or your faucet dripping? Get it fixed and stop pouring money down your drain! For more information and tips on how to detect leaks, check out Leak Facts on the Water Sense website.
Buy Water Sense & Energy Star Labeled Products
When it’s time to replace your fixtures or appliances, buy the most energy and water efficient products available. The government sponsored Water Sense and Energy Star programs provide a good baseline for efficiency, but often there are products that are even more efficient. For example, WaterSense labeled faucets need to use no more than 2gpm. However I have a Hansgrohe faucet that uses 1.5 gpm.
Water Smart
The average American household spends about 30% of its water budget on irrigation. In MA, water use rises sharply during the summer months (from 55 gpcd to 82.5 gpcd). If you are anywhere near the Average American, you are likely overwatering your lawn and garden–as much as 50% of water applied to landscapes is lost due to evaporation, wind or runoff from overwatering! If you have an irrigation system, start the spring season off right by auditing your irrigation system. Check out these tips from EPA WaterSense or consider hiring a certified WaterSense landscape professional. S/he may suggest fixes like a rain or climate sensor, turning off zones for established beds, watering less and earlier in the day, turning down sprinkler heads, replacing them with a drip system, etc.
Follow these tips and replace (at least some of) your water woes with wisdom!
If you’ve been delaying replacing aging, inefficient appliances, now–or rather soon–may be the time to act. Thanks to $300 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 it’s about to get a little cheaper to invest in Energy Star qualified appliances.
Within the next couple of months all 50 states will be rolling out rebate programs for consumers who meet state eligibility requirements and purchase qualified products. The Department of Energy, which is coordinating and overseeing the initiative, has given states leeway to design their own programs, with the result that timing and eligibility will vary by state. You can stay abreast of what’s happening in your state and when by visiting Energy Savers (a DOE website).
In theory, CFLs are a great thing. They last longer and use less energy than incandescents; it’s even possible to get them for free (MA residents visit Mass Save for a free energy audit that includes free replacement of incandescents with CFLs; click here to learn more about Mass Save). In practice, however, transitioning to CFLs can cause major headaches.
For example, you can’t just put any old CFL in a fixture with a dimmable switch. You need a special dimmable CFL and even then, the dimmable CFL may not work well with your fixture and/or your switch. And even if you find one that works, whose light quality you like and that does not buzz (a tall order), you may find that the bulbs need time to reach full capacity, that they won’t fully dim and/or that will not turn on if your dimmer switch is lowered.
Here are some tips to make your transition to energy efficient lighting go as smoothly as possible:
- Check out the Energy Star Guide to choosing CFLs to make sure you get the right light for your application.
- Make sure to buy Energy Star rated bulbs (believe it or not, there are some CFLs that do not have Energy Star rating).
- The lumen rating tells you how much light the bulb puts out. For general room lighting you want a bulb with roughly 900-1300. For reading you may want a bulb with a lumen rating in the 1700 range.
- The kelvin rating tells you the color of the light. For a warm color equivalent to the color of a conventional incandescent bulb, look for a 2700 kelvin CFL.
- CFL bulbs come in a variety of shapes and sizes beyond the spiral. There are bulbs for recessed lights, outdoor lights, chandeliers and decorative fixtures. A great online source for a variety of CFLs is Energy Federation Incorporated, or EFI.
- When replacing bulbs in a dimmable fixture, make sure to buy dimmable bulbs from a source (like EFI) that will take them back if they don’t work well with your fixture and/or dimmer switch.
Much of the furniture that is on the market today contains potentially harmful chemicals including (but not limited to):
- formaldehyde, often present in wood products
- chemical flame retardants, often applied to mattresses and upholstery
- chemical stain treatments, often applied to clothing and upholstery
These and other chemicals that are present in our furniture have been linked to many health problems including cancer, reproductive harm, and developmental harm (for more information about some of the health risks associated with home furnishings click here and here).
Thankfully there are healthier alternatives, many of which can be found online at the Green Home Guide’s furniture know-how section.
Bostonians and metro-Bostonians may wish to check out Furnature in Waltham, a family-owned business that has been committed to providing people with healthier, less toxic furniture, mattresses and bedding for almost twenty years.
Summer is not only a time for fresh fruits and veggies, outdoor activities and vacations. It’s also a time for outdoor watering–lots and lots of outdoor watering. Too much of this water is wasted by improperly designed, installed and maintained irrigation systems.
Does your sprinkler system go on when it’s raining or recently has rained? Does it go on during the heat of the day? Does it water your driveway and the sidewalk? Are the settings the same for the entire watering season?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you may be wasting water on your lawn and garden. Smart watering systems can help you save money and stop squandering an increasingly scarce resource (to learn more about the threat of water shortages click here and here).
Read to start saving? Check out the MWRA’s outdoor water conservation tips, and/or consider having an irrigation audit performed by an accredited EPA Water Sense irrigation auditor.
You know that fresh paint smell? That’s the smell of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, off-gassing from the paint as it dries. VOCs are bad for the earth and for our health. But you can freshen up your house without polluting by choosing zero or low-voc paints (paints with less than 5 g/l and 50 g/l VOCs respectively). For product recommendations, check out The Green Guide and Earth Easy. And, if in doubt about the VOC content of a product, ask to see its MSDS (material safety data sheet), which will list this information.
The average American household spends about 30% of its water budget on irrigation. In MA, water use rises sharply during the summer months (from 55 gpcd to 82.5 gpcd). If you are anywhere near the Average American, you are likely overwatering your lawn and garden–as much as 50% of water applied to landscapes is lost due to evaporation, wind or runoff from overwatering! If you have an irrigation system, start the spring season off right by auditing your irrigation system. Check out these tips from EPA WaterSense or consider hiring a certified WaterSense landscape professional. S/he may suggest fixes like a rain or climate sensor, turning off zones for established beds, watering less and earlier in the day, turning down sprinkler heads, replacing them with a drip system, etc.