Reduce Your Home's Water Consumption

Reducing household water usage has big-time benefits for both homeowners and for the environment: reducing strain on local water resources, cutting demand on wastewater treatment facilities, and lowering both water and sewage utility bills, to name a few. Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, we’ve put together a collection of water-saving tips and products that can help you save money and reduce your environmental footprint.

Best of all, these don’t require major sacrifices or lifestyle changes, they’re just adjustments that make a big difference – sort of the water conservation equivalent of “working smart instead of working hard”.

Basic Maintenance

Small Leaks Can Waste Huge Amouts Of Water

Check your fixtures and pipes. Give your household plumbing a good look. Do you see any leaks, even just tiny drips when a faucet is turned on? All those drops add up. A leaky faucet washer can waste tens of gallons of water per day, so why pay for all that water you aren’t using? Plus, by sealing the leak, you’ll avoid the maintenance nightmare of repairing water damage if the little drip turns into a raging flow.

Check your meter. Take a look at your water meter before you leave home to run your errands, then check it a couple hours later when you return (and you know there has been no water use.) If you see any change on the meter, there’s a leak somewhere. Find it and fix it.

Next Stop: The Kitchen

Reuse kitchen water. Instead of wasting it down the drain, use a pail to collect the water you use for rinsing vegetables or cooking foods like pasta or potatoes. The added nutrients make it great for watering a garden.

Don’t let the water run… and run… Of course, this is good advice in the bathroom too, but it’s especially easy to waste water in the kitchen. Make the effort to turn off the faucet when you don’t need it, even for a couple seconds – the water savings will add up quickly. A faucet pedal makes it even easier to regulate water use when your hands are full. One of our favorites is the Pedal Works Hands-Free Faucet Controller ($349 at Amazon)

Pedal Works Hands-Free Faucet Controller

Use the dishwasher. This is an indulgence you can feel good about. A modern, energy-star rated dishwasher loaded to capacity will use less water and energy than hand washing in the sink. And you can generally skip the pre-rinse, further reducing water use.

Bosch SHX68E Evolution 800 Plus Dishwasher

Bosch is an industry leader when it comes to efficient dishwashers. The Bosch SHX68E Evolution 800 Plus is extraordinarily energy efficient, and uses just 1.56 gallons of water per cycle. Fair enough, this is the Rolls Royce of dishwashers ($1,732.56 at Amazon) but all major manufacturers now offer their own energy star models.

If you must wash by hand, don’t let the water run constantly. Fill the sink with soapy water, wash the dishes, then refill with rinse water.

Bathrooms

Sorry, baths. Despite the very name of the room, baths are a killer when it comes to household water conservation. Showers use a fraction of the water compared to baths, so avoid the full-on tub soaking whenever possible.

Go low-flow. New low-flow showerheads match the performance of older, wasteful designs, while drastically cutting water consumption. One of the best is the Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead ($29.98 at Amazon), which uses just 1.85 gallons per minute in its low-flow mode, yet maintains impressive water pressure for rinsing.

Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead

Shower smart. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get distracted in the shower, what with all the singing and pondering the mysteries of the universe. But try to keep it short – reducing a shower by just two minutes can easily save 100 gallons of water each month.

A nifty little gadget to help you avoid wasting water by being aware of how much you’re using is the Water Pebble, designed by Paul Priestman. The Water Pebble is placed in a sink or shower, and uses green, yellow, and red indicator lights to give a quick visual reference of how much water is being used. Learn more at the Priestman Goode Design website.

The Water Pebble

And While We’re Talking Bathrooms… Low-flow toilets are good, but toilets with a dual-flush option are even better. One of the best is the Caroma Caravelle ($369 at Amazon) which performs just as well as many older high-flow designs but uses only 0.8 gallons per flush for liquids, or 1.6 gallons for solids – which can translate into annual utility savings of $100 in water-restricted areas.

Caroma Caravelle Dual-Flush Toilet

Finally, don’t use the toilet as a trash can. Even with a low-flow design, flushing a tissue or a cigarette butt is an unnecessary waste of water.

Bring The Rain Indoors

OXO Good Grips Pour & Store Watering Can

Rainwater is great for watering indoor plants. It’s free, and it’s actually better for your plants than using municipal water from the faucet. Rainwater contains no chlorine, and its ambient temperature is easier for plants to tolerate than cold tap water. The OXO Good Grips Pour & Store watering can ($15.50 at Amazon) is great for indoor use, thanks to its ergonomic design and compact folding spout.

Do you have other suggestions for simple ways to cut household water consumption? Leave a comment below and let us know!

A Metaefficient Bathroom – Environmentally Friendly And Functional

A bathroom may be one of the smallest rooms of a home, but make no mistake – it’s a vital one. Whether you’re building a new home or renovating an existing one, integrating efficient components into a bathroom will add convenience and improve functionality, and also minimize the environmental impact of energy and water consumption.

When considering each individual component of a truly efficient bathroom, remember that how an item is produced is important as well as its design. And a product’s lifecycle is always a key consideration, since a long-lasting item saves the need for a new purchase and keeps the old out of the waste stream.

After scouring user reviews and comparing countless features and designs, we’ve compiled the following list of standout products. Here are some of the most innovative and promising components on the market for putting together a “meta-efficient dream bathroom”.

Caroma Caravelle Dual-Flush Toilet

Caroma Caravelle Dual-Flush Toilet

Toilets can be real water-hogs, often consuming far more water than is really needed for waste disposal – in fact, older designs can send up to seven gallons of water down the drain with every flush. Low-flow toilets typically use just 1.6 gallons per flush, and their performance has improved dramatically since water-conserving designs were mandated in the 1990’s. Dual-flush toilets are an even more efficient solution, since flushing liquid waste actually requires very little water.

Why It Was Chosen:
The EPA “WaterSense” rated Caroma Caravelle is one of the best dual-flush designs available. Caroma has produced dual-flush toilets for years in its home country of Australia, where water restrictions are a part of everyday life. The Caravelle uses a mere 0.8 gallons per flush for liquids, or 1.6 gallons for solids, while still performing just as well as many older high-flow designs. The water saved is an double environmental advantage, since both freshwater consumption and wastewater treatment are reduced, and utility savings can add up to $100 per year for homeowners in water-restricted areas.

You can find the Caroma Caravelle Dual-Flush Toilet for around $352 at Amazon.

Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead

Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead

Showerheads are certainly a matter of personal preference. But regardless of the style you choose, make sure to look for a low-flow design (generally less than two gallons per minute). The newest designs can amplify low water pressure and provide a more powerful spray, while using far less water than older styles.

Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead

Why It Was Chosen:
Thanks to its aerating “H2O Kinetic Technology”, the Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead still provides solid water pressure in its 1.85 gallon-per-minute low-flow mode. It minimizes unnecessary water waste with normal use, but a control allows the user to switch to a high-flow rate if necessary. It features a self-cleaning design to avoid clogging, and its classic styling will match almost any bathroom style.

The Delta Water Amplifying Low-Flow Showerhead is available at Amazon for about $30.

Pedal Works Hands-Free Faucet Controller

Pedal Works Hands-Free Faucet Controller

There are countless faucet designs to match any bathroom, but regardless of the style you choose, adding a faucet foot pedal to control water flow will drastically cut water waste while adding convenience. Your sink will stay cleaner since you don’t need to touch the handles with dirty hands, and you’ll avoid wasting water during tasks like shaving or brushing your teeth.

Why It Was Chosen:
The Pedal Works Hands-Free Faucet Controller works in conjunction with your existing faucet. A user simply sets the handles for the water temperature needed, and controls the stream using the floor-level pedal. A toe latch provides continuous flow if desired, and allows normal hand control of the faucet too.

The Pedal Works Faucet Controller isn’t cheap, but over time it will save money by preventing water waste. Available for $349 at Amazon.

EnviroGLAS Recycled-Glass Terazzo Countertop

EnviroGLAS Recycled-Glass Terazzo Countertop

Solid surface countertops have become much more popular in recent years compared to laminate styles. If you decide on a solid countertop design, be sure to pick a material that minimizes the potential drawbacks of high maintenance, toxic composite resins, and high embodied-energy content from transportation or raw material usage.

Why It Was Chosen:
EnviroGLAS creates terrazzo-style countertops from 100% recycled glass and porcelain, bound with resins that produce no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The material is durable and low-maintenance too, requiring no waxes or harsh cleaners.

Prices vary depending on specific color and material choices. Learn more at the EnviroGLAS website.

Kohler Steward S Waterless Urinal

Kohler Steward S Waterless Urinal

Fair enough, not all homeowners have the space (or desire) to integrate a urinal into a personal bathroom. But a waterless urinal can slash water consumption while adding convenience for male members of a household, elevating it beyond some sort of “man cave” novelty.

Why It Was Chosen:
The Kohler Steward S Waterless Urinal completely eliminates unnecessary water waste, making it even more efficient than a dual-flush toilet and earning “water efficiency” points toward a LEED rating. Its odor-minimizing, splash-resistant design reduces the need for maintenance, saving on time and the use of cleaners. And its modern but understated design maintains an aesthetic that’s still appropriate for home décor.

The Kohler Steward S Waterless Urinal retails for a hefty $532, but you can find it at Amazon for around $367.

C. Crane Geobulb 3 LED Lightbulb (Warm White)

C. Crane Geobulb 3 LED Lightbulb (Warm White)

Vanity lighting is admittedly an area where personal preference will dictate the types of lights you install. LED bulbs may not work for all applications in a bathroom setting, but they’re definitely worth considering for vanities and “open can” recessed lighting fixtures. The initial cost is a bit steep, but they use even less power than their compact fluorescent counterparts, plus they last far longer and contain no mercury.

Why It Was Chosen:
Some LED bulbs have struggled to match the brightness of incandescents or even fluorescents, but one of the best incandescent-replacement LED bulbs available is the Geobulb 3 from C. Crane. It uses just 7 watts of power to produce 520 lumens, matching the overall light output of a 50-60 watt incandescent bulb. And because of the directional nature of LEDs, the Geobulb 3 produces more light from the top of the bulb, so it’s especially well suited for use in open mounted fixtures as opposed to shaded lamps. The Geobulb 3 is rated for a 50,000-hour lifespan, and it’s also available in “Soft White” and “Cool White” styles.

The C. Crane Geobulb 3 LED Lightbulb is available at Amazon for $69.95.

Have you included any of these items in your own bathroom design? Or have you tried others that you are especially pleased with? Leave a comment and let us know!

The sewer systems we use today are entirely ineffectual and unnecessary. The primary flaw in our design is that we use fresh water to dispose of feces. This is perhaps the most ineffectual thing to do with human manure — it pollutes fresh water, and it requires municipalities to maintain extremely costly sewage treatment infrastructures. Even after treatment, sewage can still wreck havoc on rivers and groundwater.

The most effective and straightforward thing to do with sewage is to compost it (or use it to produce fuel). It’s a valuable resource.

The C. K. Choi Building is a 30,000-square-foot building that is part of the University of British Columbia. The building has no connection to the sewage system. Instead it has composting toilets and waterless urinals installed.

The toilets on each of the three floors connect via stainless steel chutes to five Clivus Multrum composting systems in the building’s basement. The toilets emit no odors, because all the waste is collected in the basement and fans ensure that no odor escapes the composting containers.

The system is maintained and emptied by the Clivus Multrum company through a service contract. Every day the university maintenance staff wipes down the toilets and adds a can of wood chips or bark mulch to each toilet. Every six months, the compost (which no longer resembles feces) is removed from the system and used as a fertilizer.

Because of this system, the C. K. Choi building uses just 500 liters of water per day (132 gallons), a similarly-sized conventional building uses an average of 7,000 liters of water a day (1850 gallons) or fourteen times as much water.

But about the water from sinks and other systems? This graywater is filtered and pumped into a 300-foot-long outdoor planter bed with lilies. The final discharge is used to irrigate plants. A test by the city of Vancouver of the fecal coliform counts of the discharged water showed that it contained less than 10 CFU per 100 milliliters (by comparison swimming is permitted in water with up to 200 CFU per 100 milliliters).

The building also captures rainwater: the rain is in a 7,000-gallon tank below a staircase. It is used to irrigate the landscape, which is bordered by thirsty ginkgo trees.

What this example clearly shows is that modern buildings can do quite well without a connection to a municipal sewage system. The maintaining the building’s composting system is probably less overall than a building with flushing toilets.

More information on this topic (including many other case studies) can be found in the excellent Composting Toilet System Book by David Del Porto and Carol Steinfeld.

These sinks are finally available in the U.S. They sit atop your toilet and replace the lid. When you flush the toilet, the clean water that would go straight down the toilet is first routed up through a spigot to dispense pure water for hand washing. The sink shut off automatically when the toilet has been filled. It saves on water and space too.

It’s available from Amazon for $89.

Found via: Cool Tools

Bidets are those devices that spray water (and sometimes air) on your posterior. They are more hygienic than toilet paper, and save you money in the long run.

Bidets are very popular in Japan and parts of Europe. You can actually install a “bidet seat” quite easily, in place of your existing toilet seat. Bidet seats attach to the existing water supply through a double adapter and a hose. Some seats are quite elaborate, featuring jets of heated air, remote controls and various water massage settings.

A while back, we recommended Terry Love’s toilet reviews. He also hosts a good overview of bidets (but no reviews unfortunately). He does recommend the Toto Chloe and the Biobidet however (see this short reply to a reader). I’ve used a very basic $70 Biobidet for a year now and it works fine, if  you don’t mind cold water.

There’s also hand-held travel bidets available.

There’s also a book on bidets available — it explains the advantages of a bidet in detail and has many shopping tips. It’s priced at $7.95.

Early on, low-flow toilets got a bad rap — and justifiably so — their flushing ability left a lot to be desired. But today there are many low-flow toilets on the market that work well. Terry Love is a plumber who reviews low-flow toilets. He takes his job seriously, installing some of the toilets his own home were he can test them in “real world” situations. He lists toilets that work just fine in spite of the current standards which allow for a maximum water usage of 1.6 gallons per flush (GPF). He says his favorite toilet is the UltraMax by Toto. Toto calls this a “G-Max” toilet (model number is MS854114S). Overall, Toto seems to be the low-flush brand of choice. You can see all the reviews on this page: Terry Love’s Consumer Toilet Reports

"Foam-Flush" toilets look and function much like conventional toilets. Using a mixture of biocompatible soap and water, the foam-flush toilet moves waste through a conventional 4″ pipe to the composting tank below. The foam mixture cleans the toilet bowl with every flush but uses only about 3 oz. of water, making it fully compatible with the composting process. Since the foam flush is using water to carry the waste, it is possible to have it offset from the compost system at up to 45 degrees, making the design much like it would be for a conventional toilet system. Clivus Multrum makes foam-flush toilets.

Composting toilets can be a practical solution even for large businesses. We recently visited the Philip Merrill Environment Center, which is the headquarters for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It has a Platinum rating for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the U.S. Green Building Council.

After taking a tour of their offices (about a hundred people work there), we tried out their bathrooms, which looked like typical office facilities. The toilets however, are composting ones, so there is no water involved. If you look down the toilet, you see nothing but a pipe leading down into darkness. Designed by Clivus, the toilets emitted no odors — this was probably due to slight draft which was pulling air down into the pipe that lead to the compositing chamber twenty feet below. All odor was drawn away by this ventilation.

The composting toilets we featured previously on MetaEfficient were “cottage style”, meaning they were designed to be self-contained and built to serve a single bathroom. Also available are composting toilet systems which connect multiple bathroom areas into a single composting tank. For example, the Phoenix Composting System can handle daily usage by up to eight people in a household or business. The tanks are insulated, and have an efficient ventilation system with automatic controls over the downward movement of the composting pile.

EcoTech USA offers a “Carousel Composting Toilet System” which features four rotatable compost chambers. The compost container consists of an outer and an inner rotatable container. Excrement, paper and, if desired, organic kitchen wastes are disposed of into one chamber at a time. Liquid drains into the bottom of the outer container, where warmed air drawn into the container evaporates it. The resulting vacuum assures that no odor escapes into the room. When one chamber is full, the next one is turned into position, assuring that fresh waste does not disrupt the more advanced composting material.

Another option is to build your own composting toilet, more information about this can be found at the EcoWaters web site.

Notes from Manufacturer:
The Sun-Mar’s unique patented Bio-Drum™ tumbler optimizes mixing, oxygenation
and moisture distribution. No other composting toilet includes a rotating drum.
Evaporation is optimized via large surface areas, heating evaporated surfaces,
and well-designed air flow. The finishing drawer collects compost from the Bio-Drum,
isolating it from new compost and allowing it to dry before removal.

Home Page: Sun-Mar
Price: $899-$1639 (Alternative
Energy Store)

Notes from Manufacturer:
BioLet composting toilets are efficient, compact
and reliable appliances which can be easily installed in any location.
All models are manufactured from durable, easy to clean ABS plastic and
non-corroding stainless steel and are backed by over 25 years of experience,
a three year limited warranty and toll free customer support.

Home Page: Biolet
Price: $1065-2000