Eco-friendly Plumbing Options
These days, many homeowners are determined to be as eco-friendly as possible in how they live their lives. One of the first features of your home you can consider when wanting to protect the environment is your plumbing. There are a number of benefits to switching to an eco-friendly approach to plumbing. Environmentally conscious plumbing cannot only help to protect the planet’s limited energy and water resources, it can save you big money on your utility bills, while still providing you with excellent performance. If you have been thinking about making changes to your home’s plumbing, this is the perfect time to introduce a few eco-friendly features.
Tankless Water Heaters
Old-fashioned water heaters have large internal tanks containing a volume of water they have to maintain at a warm temperature throughout the day. It’s not a very efficient way to heat water, since it uses far more energy than necessary. Tankless water heaters are becoming ever more popular across the country because they are efficient, highly reliable and use much less energy.
This approach saves you money while using less energy in the process. It also means that your home has a smaller carbon footprint. Tankless water heaters offer the added benefit of ensuring that you never run out of hot water, which can happen with traditional water heaters.
Water Pipes
Another way to cut your home’s carbon footprint is to reduce the amount of energy your home loses through its pipes. Ensuring that the pipes in your home are made of eco-friendly materials like steel or PEX will not only make your pipes more durable, it will reduce heat loss. Correctly sized pipes can also increase your home’s water pressure while minimizing the chance of leaks and wasted water.
If you don’t want to remove your old copper or plastic pipes yet, installing insulators on the pipes is a less expensive solution that can still cut your heat loss by as much as 80%. You’ll save energy, protect the environment and spend less on heating water.
Toilets
If you’re considering replacing your home’s toilets, there are eco-friendly toilet options that are both inexpensive and that can slash your home’s water usage. Eco-friendly toilets can use 20 to 60% less water than traditional toilets, so you will save significantly on your home’s water bill. The latest versions of these eco-friendly toilets maintain traditional functionality and effectiveness while still giving you the savings benefit.
Faucets
Another way to reduce your home’s water usage is to replace your current outdated faucets with eco-friendly fixtures. While it’s still very important to turn off the water when you aren’t using it, these new eco-friendly faucets ensure that you get strong water pressure with less consumption.
Showerheads
Traditional showerheads can waste a lot of water and energy. But there are a number of water efficient models available on the market. These kinds of water saving/flow optimized showerheads can reduce the GPM (gallons per minute) your showerhead uses from 2.5 to as little as 1.75.
In other words, you’ll reduce your water consumption when taking a shower by as much as 30%. But the water pressure will feel the same. In this way, you can have an eco-friendly showerhead that cuts your water and energy usage without reducing the performance and effectiveness of your shower.
Having an eco-friendly home doesn’t have to be a burden. A few tweaks here and there and you can not only reduce your water usage in your home, you can slash your energy bill as well.
Eco-friendly Plumbing Options
These days, many homeowners are determined to be as eco-friendly as possible in how they live their lives. One of the first features of your home you can consider when wanting to protect the environment is your plumbing. There are a number of benefits to switching to an eco-friendly approach to plumbing. Environmentally conscious plumbing cannot only help to protect the planet’s limited energy and water resources, it can save you big money on your utility bills, while still providing you with excellent performance. If you have been thinking about making changes to your home’s plumbing, this is the perfect time to introduce a few eco-friendly features.
Tankless Water Heaters
Old-fashioned water heaters have large internal tanks containing a volume of water they have to maintain at a warm temperature throughout the day. It’s not a very efficient way to heat water, since it uses far more energy than necessary. Tankless water heaters are becoming ever more popular across the country because they are efficient, highly reliable and use much less energy.
This approach saves you money while using less energy in the process. It also means that your home has a smaller carbon footprint. Tankless water heaters offer the added benefit of ensuring that you never run out of hot water, which can happen with traditional water heaters.
Water Pipes
Another way to cut your home’s carbon footprint is to reduce the amount of energy your home loses through its pipes. Ensuring that the pipes in your home are made of eco-friendly materials like steel or PEX will not only make your pipes more durable, it will reduce heat loss. Correctly sized pipes can also increase your home’s water pressure while minimizing the chance of leaks and wasted water.
If you don’t want to remove your old copper or plastic pipes yet, installing insulators on the pipes is a less expensive solution that can still cut your heat loss by as much as 80%. You’ll save energy, protect the environment and spend less on heating water.
Toilets
If you’re considering replacing your home’s toilets, there are eco-friendly toilet options that are both inexpensive and that can slash your home’s water usage. Eco-friendly toilets can use 20 to 60% less water than traditional toilets, so you will save significantly on your home’s water bill. The latest versions of these eco-friendly toilets maintain traditional functionality and effectiveness while still giving you the savings benefit.
Faucets
Another way to reduce your home’s water usage is to replace your current outdated faucets with eco-friendly fixtures. While it’s still very important to turn off the water when you aren’t using it, these new eco-friendly faucets ensure that you get strong water pressure with less consumption.
Showerheads
Traditional showerheads can waste a lot of water and energy. But there are a number of water efficient models available on the market. These kinds of water saving/flow optimized showerheads can reduce the GPM (gallons per minute) your showerhead uses from 2.5 to as little as 1.75.
In other words, you’ll reduce your water consumption when taking a shower by as much as 30%. But the water pressure will feel the same. In this way, you can have an eco-friendly showerhead that cuts your water and energy usage without reducing the performance and effectiveness of your shower.
Having an eco-friendly home doesn’t have to be a burden. A few tweaks here and there and you can not only reduce your water usage in your home, you can slash your energy bill as well.
