Look at the bathrooms in your home. With a few modifications you can make them much more efficient and much greener. You can make improvements without doing a complete remodel, but of course if you want to use that as an excuse, go ahead. Just make sure that you repurpose and recycle old fixtures and buy responsibly.
Water use is the most obvious place where most of us can improve. While it is mistakenly believed by many that it is the only issue in the bathroom for green living, it is the biggest. Let us start with the shower.
Yes, you can take shorter showers, of course. I’ll give some tips about that at the end. To really make an impact, though, try the following strategies.
Install a low flow or optimizing shower head. You can save three gallons a minute this way! I have a review of a great new product coming up this week, so be sure to check back for that post. You won’t want to miss it.
You also want to keep your shower head in good repair. While you may be tempted to ditch the low flow shower head because of lack of pressure, it is more likely that it simply needs to be cleaned.
Did you know that there may be rebates and incentives from both your local government and local water company for installing new fixtures that would reduce your water consumption? This is something to definitely check out.
Adopt the good old Navy Shower. Sailors are a whiz at saving water, since the only fresh water they have must be carried in tanks on the ships. The way it works is this: simply turn off or turn down the water while you are sudsing up. If you aren’t actively rinsing, then you don’t need to use the full strength of the pressure, right?
Taking shorter showers in general is always a good idea. Use a timer at first until you get used to what a five minute shower feels like.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
Related Articles:
The Economy and the Throwaway Society
Greening an Older or Historic Home