Improve Your Home's Energy & Water Efficiency
Bathrooms:
Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth and shaving, will save you 4-10 gallons daily. Take showers instead of baths. A full bath tub requires about 70 gallons of water. A five minute shower only uses between 10-25 gallons. Limit showers to five minutes. You'll get just as clean as with a marathon shower. Saves 3-7 gallons per shower. Close the tub drain before turning on the water, saves 3 gallons or more. Fill the tub to a few inches below the overflow. This will save you 5 gallons and hot water costs.
Kitchen and Laundry:
Fill the sink or basin when washing and rinsing dishes. Saves 8-15 gallons per day. Reduces hot water costs, too. Run the dishwasher only when its full. Saves up to 15 gallons per load and hot water costs. Run the garbage disposal only when necessary. Saves 2-4 gallons per session. Wash vegetables and fruit in a basin and use a brush to remove dirt. Saves 2-7 gallons per minute. Run washer only when full and adjust the water level setting to match the load. Saves 22-25 gallons per load.
Water Heaters
Reduce your water heater costs by lowering the temperature to 120 degrees. Every 10 degrees F° that you lower your water heater can save you between 3-5% in energy costs! It also slows down the mineral buildup and corrosion of your water heater and pipes. Touch your water heater. If it feels hot, you need to insulate it. That can reduce the amount of heat lost by 25-45% resulting in a 4-9% savings on your heating costs.
Insulate your pipes too. It will raise the temperature of water 2-4 %, and it will reduce the amount of energy needed to heat it. You'll get hot water faster.
Faucet and Showerheads
Find and fix dripping, trickling or oozing faucets and showerheads. Leaks can waste from 75 to several hundred of gallons on water in a week. Install a low-flow faucet aerator. this can save as much as 25% or 1.5 gallons per minute. To check for leaks, take a reading of your water meter. Make sure that no one uses any water for an hour and check it again. If the reading has changed, you have at least one leak.
Toilets
Put a stop to leaky toilets. That trickling sound you hear can waste as much as 50 gallons per day. To check for leaks, crush a dye tablet in its envelope, empty in the center of your tank. Allow to dissolve, wait about 10 minutes and inspect the toilet bowl for signs of the dye. If you see the dye, your flapper or flush valve may need to be replaced.
Outside
If you're a gardener, use a drip irrigation system rather than in-ground sprinklers. The typical home uses about 40% of their water for outdoor usage, and experts estimate that 50% of that goes to waste due to evaporation and run off. A drip irrigation system would reduce water consumption between 20-50% and will save you $1,450 over the lifetime of the system. ©PSI08
