Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Simple Ideas to Save Water
START WITH THE SHOWER
Your daily eight-minute shower uses about 20 gallons of water. Take a shower once a day and it adds up to 7,300 gallons per year. With that much water, a typical family of four could fill its own medium-sized swimming pool, wash 4,152 loads of laundry, or make 166,115 pots of Campbell's soup. Thankfully, you don't have to sacrifice your hygiene to conserve water in the shower. A strategic showerhead is all it takes. WaterPik-creator of the original massage showerhead-recently introduced the Ecoflow. The low-flow showerhead utilizes the company's patented optiFLOW technology to deliver a spray that's comparable to most standard showerheads, yet uses 40 percent less water. Ecoflow uses 1.5 gallons per minute while the standard showerhead gushes out a whopping 2.5 gallons per minute. The showerhead also features a water pause switch so you can prevent waste when waiting for the hot water to kick in or while lathering up. Waterpik-store.com offers fixed-mount Ecoflow models for as low as $14.99 with an instant $5 rebate, and a handheld version is available on the site for $44.99.
Evolve has designed a series of water-saving showerheads that run cold water until the temperature reaches 95 degrees and then stops the flow to a trickle. This way hot water doesn't release until you actually step into the shower and turn the valve to release the flow. With Evolve you can shave, make the bed, bake cupcakes, and catch the end of Oprah without wasting gallons of water and all the energy required to heat it. Multiple showerhead styles are available, including the Roadrunner low-flow showerhead, delivering strong water pressure with just 1.59 gallons per minute ($39.95 through Evolveshowerheads.com). The company estimates that the Roadrunner saves eight gallons of water for every five-minute shower when compared to standard showerhead models.
TRADE IN YOUR TOILET
Sit down on some great water savings by opting for a high-efficiency toilet (HET). According to the EPA, toilet flushing accounts for about 30 percent of all indoor residential water use, requiring more water than any other activity in our homes. But the right toilet can change those statistics for the better. In response to rising water demand and looming water shortages, the EPA developed WaterSense, a program that makes it easy for consumers to quickly identify water-efficient products. Toilets that carry the WaterSense label are third-party certified to be at least 20 percent more efficient than today's standard toilets, which reduce flow per flush from an average 1.6 gallons to 1.28 (but toilets installed in your home before 1994 still use 3.5 gallons or more per flush). Visit the program's website at http://www.Epa.gov/watersense to find qualifying products plus a list of participating retailers like Vidavici.com, offering one of the widest selections of WaterSense-rated toilets available on the Internet. Save money on your next toilet purchase by taking advantage of rebates for water-efficient toilets that are sponsored by local city governments throughout North America. For example, residents of Albuquerque, New Mexico, can receive a $125 rebate when replacing a standard toilet model with a water-efficient model. In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, residents are eligible for a $75 rebate when making the switch. Visit Toiletrebate.com to see what incentives may be available to you.
But why send perfectly clean drinking water down the toilet? An AQUS System reuses the water from your bathroom sink for all of your flushing needs. Developed by Water Saver Technologies, the AQUS is a small, simple system that uses a 5 1/2-gallon container inside your sink's vanity (or behind the wall or underneath the floorboards) to capture and filter water as it comes down the sink's drain. The water is run from the container to your toilet's tank with a small tube. Install the AQUS, and you'll be a hero of the planet though you'll barely notice that the device is there. Two people sharing an AQUS- quipped bathroom are estimated to save about 14 gallons of water per day, or 5,000 gallons over the course of a year. The system is available for $295 plus installation. Depending upon your local water and sewage rates, Water Saver Technologies estimates that it usually pays for itself within four to five years. You can find a distributor at http://www.Watersavertech.com.
What about the used water (also known as gray water) from your kitchen sink, shower, and dishwasher? While a bigger financial commitment than an AQUS, a whole-house grey water system single-handedly reduces a home's indoor water usage by 30 percent by redirecting used water to all toilets. By law, a household grey water system can only collect used water inside the home to flush toilets; other uses are deemed unsanitary. Canada-based Brac Systems offers a residential system called the Brac 250L ($2,190 at Aquaprosolutions.com), which is optimal for homes with up to six people. Depending on your location, a Brac system could be a wise investment. While the EPA estimates that the average U.S. Household pays $523 per year in water and sewage bills, those costs spike in cities like Atlanta, Seattle, and San Diego to well over $1,000 per year. In such cases, a Brac system starts to make both financial and environmental sense.
Josh Dorfman is an environmental entrepreneur, media personality and author of The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living. He is also the founder and CEO of Vivavi, a retailer of modern, green furniture and home furnishings. His latest book, The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget: Save Money. Save Time. Save The Planet, is now available. For more information, please visit: http://www.lazyenvironmentalist.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Josh_Dorfman
Friday, 21 May 2010
Saving Water on the Earth
Water is all around us. We use water everyday for many different reasons. Our bodies main ingredient is water, making up over 70% of all the molecules in our bodies. Water is also the basic building block of life on earth. Without it, we would not exist. Even though, water covers over 70% of the surface of the earth, not all of that water is drinkable. There is only about 3% fresh drinking water on earth. This is why water conservation is very important and will become even more important in the near future. In 2010, many companies and organizations are promoting water conservation.
The Mono Lake Community in California has started a new campaign this year to help residence make the conservation of water fun and increases awareness. They have door hangers to print out via website to put on other residence front door to both applaud them and show other residence that they have taken an initiative in conserving the lakes waters. There is also another door hanger to print out to let a resident know, that someone has noticed an issue with the water usage of a resident and introduce tips on how to fix the excessive water use problem.
UC Berkley has designed a campus energy and water campaign they call "WATCH US GO GREEN." They have created several posters with a WWI and WWII retro feel, to educate and encourage students and staff to conserve energy and water around campus. The posters have tips on how everyone can do their part on campus to conserve water and energy.
The Coke products company is sponsoring a campaign called "Half Bucket Water Conservation Campaign." This campaign is geared toward educating young people about conserving water resources using cartoons and other animations to make learning about water conservation fun and interesting. This campaign is co-sponsored by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation in Hong Kong or OPCFHK for short.
These is only three different initiatives taken on in late 2009 and the start of 2010. There are many others campaigns starting up all the time. With the conservation of water awareness on the rise, we hope it will spark much more interest in the efficient use of our earths' most precious natural resource, water.
TheKitchenFaucet.com is a strong advocate of water conservation. We have a wide variety of kitchen faucets and bathroom faucets at low prices to add to your homes luster. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Levinsohn Your morning or evening shower is very easily the most relaxing part of your entire day. Sometimes it just feels so good to close your eyes and stand under the rain-like flow of your showerhead. The only problem is, sometimes our most relaxing showers are also the ones that waste the most water (and therefore waste the most energy, too) Here are some tips on how to conserve water while taking a shower: · Do not leave the water running to "heat up" for very long. It can take a while for the water to get warm, but it usually does not take so long that you have time to make your breakfast or clean your kitchen! · Take shorter showers. Use a shower timer and try to keep your shower limited to five minutes - sometimes just being aware of how long you have been in the shower will help you keep your shower time shorter. This may be very difficult, especially since the average American shower time tends to be closer to ten minutes, but any time that you can trim off will help. · Turn off the water when you are soaping up. While you are shampooing your hair or soaping your body, you do not need the water to be on. In fact, it is almost easier if the water is not running. · Turn off the water when you are shaving. If you need water to clean out your razor, just use a cup full of water. · Exercise before you shower. Exercising before you shower serves a few purposes: by exercising first, you wake yourself up, and you are less likely to dawdle in the shower. Also, exercising warms you up, and you will not need to use as warm of water - remember, the warmer the water, the more energy you are using. · Buy a low flow showerhead. Make sure that your showerhead uses not more than 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm). It is best if you can find one that uses only 1.5 gpm. Realize that some showerheads, especially older showerheads, have a flow of around 6-8 gpm! Also, using a low flow showerhead does not mean that you have to sacrifice water pressure. There are many different, excellent low flow showerheads that you might even like better than your current, 6 gpm showerhead! · Try to shower only once a day, rather than twice. · It is ok to go a day without showering every once in a while! Even if you can only manage to follow a few of these tips, you will be helping to conserve water. And remember that by conserving water in the shower, you are also conserving energy (because energy is required to heat our water), and by conserving energy, you are saving money. Taking shorter showers and following some of these other tips helps not just the environment, but ensures a better future for you, as well.
|