Save Some Green: Reduce Your Home Water Usage
People often get a little iffy when they hear terms like ‘suburban sustainability,’ or ‘ecological footprint.’
“I appreciate the planet and all, but I’ve got enough on my plate without having to take three-credit course on the environment in order to do the right thing.”
Sound familiar?
This blog— “Save Some Green”— aims to take all the mumbo jumbo out of the equation. Each week, I’ll present a few tips or easy to implement ideas with the dual goal of saving you money on your bills and conserving natural resources. I’ll try to leave as much science mumbo jumbo out as possible.
The first installment: three easy changes to daily habits.
Try and implement them overtime. Obviously you’re not going to reach 100 percent tomorrow, but the key is to snowball as you become more accustomed to the changes.
1. Cut back on your water usage:
The biggest culprit in most people’s water usage is their morning routine. Reduce your water usage by taking quicker showers (putting on a four minute song is one way of keeping track) and shutting the sink off while brushing your teeth and between razor strokes while shaving. In terms of appliances, only do full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine, and place a water-filled jar in the tank of your toilet (a pickle jar works well) in order to displace water. This saves that much water every time you flush, without sacrificing any cleanliness.
2. Take the caps off of your disposable plastic bottles before recycling.
Hopefully you already recycle. If not, get a bin and start. If so, make sure you remove the caps before tossing bottles in the bin.
This is for three reasons: easier sorting, the bottles not being crushed properly in recycling centers, and because the plastic is of a different variety and can contaminate other kinds when melted down. Simply remove the cap and toss it into the recycle bin separately.
3. Better yet, invest in a water bottle and a filtering water jug.
Ideally, you don’t want to use disposable bottles at all. Not only because they can end up in the garbage, but because the chemicals used to create them and the energy used to transport them are damaging to the environment. Water bottles can be found just about anywhere. You can find environmentally friendly water bottles for under $15 and water filters for under $40. This means an investment of $50 can take the place of buying water bottles for an entire year.
Check back next week for more tips.
Stephen Eickhoff
8:30 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Unfortunately, if your toilet was designed to flush without the water displaced by the jar (or brick, as was once customary) it would have been designed that way. The tank has a certain capacity for a reason, and it certainly WILL compromise cleanliness-- because it won't flush properly. And worse, you will often have to flush TWICE for solid waste. As it is, most homes have poorly designed "water saving" toilets that were rushed to the market due to premature regulations in the 1990s. Maybe those will have to be flushed three times now! It's no cheap fix; if you want a "green" toilet, you have to buy one. All but the cheapest flush much better than the 1990s and 2000s toilets while often using even less water.
I don't see what #2 has to do with saving water, although it is good advice.
Kyle Bagenstose
8:40 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the comment. Do you have this knowledge from somewhere though, or is it just an intuitive thing? My research shows that many older model toilets use 3.5+ gallons per flush in a wasteful manner. I've also been using a jar for well over year and have yet to see any loss of cleanliness? You're right, tip #2 doesn't have much to do with water usage, but it came to mind anyway.
Harry Dixon
9:14 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
I've had a HALF GALLON plastic milk jug filled with stones in my toilet tank for ten years, and have never had a problem of any kind. Stephen, you must be full of something...and maybe that's why you have to flush twice! Ha ha! Just kidding, but honestly, it works like a charm. Even if you did occasionally have to double-flush, you'd STILL be saving water.
David Powell
1:37 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Just wanted to say that I do the same thing as Harry (roughly). 1-gallon plastic milk jug, filled with water & sealed, sitting in the toilet tank. That's one gallon that's not being refilled every time the toilet is flushed. No flushing problems, either.
Carol Ann
8:30 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Since we stopped allowing guests to stay longer than a few days at a time and haven't had any boarders, our utlity bills have never been lower. ........
So, anybody that resides in your home, with you, whether they be a family member, a close friend, an aquaintance, a boarder, roommate, etc. ... is going to jack up your bills even more than you ever imagined, IF you do NOT charge them for whatever time and change in the utlity bills - as long as they reside in your home. ..............
lol
Carol Ann
8:30 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
For graduate students, residing in your home, charging them 15% of their gross income as rent, if they're related to you, is not unreasonable. Write up a set of household rules and have them sign/date a copy. This becomes a contract they must respect. They may even learn something about responsibility at the same time. Add 5% per year to the "rent" and eventually, they will move out on their own, as God intended.
casey jones
8:46 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
I used to run my hose all over my lawn in the winter when it was freezing out to make an ice rink and play hockey. I should have been put in the penalty box for my waste. I'll stop doing that and do that toilet thing too.
Smedley
9:59 am on Monday, June 18, 2012
Little things add up. A good way to save some water is to get a low flow shower head with a shut off so you can shut off the water when you're lathering up. Another is connecting a Rain Barrel to one or more of your down spouts. We have 3 and use the water for lots of things. The bottom line is saving water and energy is Saving Money! How can you not like that?
If you get your water from North Penn Water Authority you are getting 80% of your water from the Delaware River. Down stream from where they are drilling in the Marcellus Shale to get gas out. This process has already contaminated the water supply in numerious locations and gas bubbles are already coming up in the Susquahanna River. Will the Delaware will be next?
There is a great film about water called "FLOW" For the love of water. Here is a link to the trailer and the movie.
Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGd9D4J0lag
Movie - http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/flow-for-love-of-water/
Simon
3:50 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2012
A low flow shower head somehow just seems insignificant.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/experts-find-30-trillion-tons-of-toxic-liquid-injected-into-earth-poisons-ground-water/
Smedley
10:40 pm on Thursday, June 21, 2012
A low flow shower head does seem insignificant. Too bad most people don't think it's a problem or they don't care. By the time they do it will be too late. You can blame the big energy corporations and the main stream media for not telling you the truth on the subject
But back to saving water and energy. I built a solar hot water heater for my house almost a year ago now and I can truthfully say I turned off my electric water heater June 26, 2011. Right now the tank is 146 degrees. Enough hot water to last almost a week with no sun.
Smedley
9:46 am on Monday, June 25, 2012
A lot of people in this area don't realize the potential for solar hot water. After a day like today with lots of sun in the morning my hot water storage tank is 150 degrees.
Hot enough to cover all our hot water for almost a week. I'm very happy with it. It's covering almost 100% of my hot water needs.
This type of system is not that hard to build. Basically all you need is three things.
The Collectors and a place to put them. Usually on the roof but you can put them in the yard if you have the exposure. Two panels are usually enough.
A Storage or Exchange tank to store the water.
And a Controller to turn the pump on and off.
The system will cost a few dollars but I figured out I'm getting about an 8% return on the money it cost to build it.
Amy Fowler
11:39 am on Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The irony of the whole water thing is that it *is* renewable; everybody learnt about the water cycle at school, so why are we all so obsessed with 'saving water'? Yes, it might be an issue for places like California where rainfall in minimal, but it's the same story told here in the UK.
The water companies start panicking when we have a few 'dry' months. We're banned from using hosepipes, etc, etc. Then it rains solidly for another few months. Panic over.
For most of us, the only *real* concern is price. And boy is water overpriced here. All we should really be paying for is storage, purification and transportation yet I'm being charged around £500 a year. While the water companies are raking in millions in profit.
Sorry for the rant, but the whole 'conserving' water thing does get my back up. Especially when I live in rain soaked England.
Oh well, if you do want to save money by reducing your water usage, there's lots of helpful tips here http://www.stormclad.co.uk/blog/top-tips-for-reducing-water-usage-in-the-home/ with a few that you might not have thought of.
Still sucks though that in the 21st Century we're being told to not flush the toilet and take three minute showers.