Frugally Green » saving money

Sustainable Bathrooms: Saving Water by Pooping Less (and more)

Tyler — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:00:59 +0000

Awhile back, I wrote a post about sustainable kitchens and how to get the most out of our appliances. Apparently, people really liked it and it got a lot of page views. Writing about the things that are important to you is important to me. So today, I’ve decided to write a similar post on bathrooms. This will turn into a series, of sorts, where I will eventually cover sustainability for every room of the house (and yard!).

Did you know the average American spends more than 1 1/2 years in the bathroom over the course of their life? That’s a lot of “personal time!” And with all of the fixtures surrounding us in the loo, it’s not hard to find a few ways to save some money by conserving resources like water and electricity while we’re hanging out at the toilet. In fact, about 75% of a household’s water use is consumed in the bathroom.

Toilets

So where do we start? Well, statistics and my insatiable love for poop jokes tells me that we should start at the toilet, since 40% of the water we use is flushed right down it. There a few things you can do to make your commode a little easier on the rain clouds:

Put a brick water bottle in the tank - You can actually use a number of different items besides a brick. The idea here is simply to displace water in the tank, much like you do yourself when you get in the bathtub. The bigger the object, the more water you’ll displace and the less you’ll use each time you flush (I seem to be displacing more bathwater than usual lately). Using this tip will require a delicate balance, though. If your object is too big, your tank won’t hold enough water to adequately flush your, uh, waste down and you’ll find yourself having to flush multiple times in order to finish the job. That is not frugally green, so experiment a little bit and find out what the best size is for your tank.

“If it’s pee, let it be…” - And if it’s brown, flush it down! My roommates were really opposed to this idea at first. The initial reaction was, “That’s gross!,” and, “It’ll stink so bad!” After a little bit of coaxing, we agreed to give it a week long trial period and see how it worked. Turns out, it’s not that gross and it doesn’t stink at all. The general rule here is that if it isn’t solid, there’s no need to waste water flushing it. As long as you flush at least once a day, we’ve found that smell is not an issue at all. If you can get past the initial mental barrier, you’ll probably find that you can save a tremendous amount of water, and that equates to a much lower water bill.

Replace an old one with a low flow/dual flush fixture – If you’re remodeling, or just need a new toilet, spend a few extra bucks to make sure you’re getting one that uses water efficiently. Many new models have a dual flush function that lets you press one button for “number 1″ and another button for “number 2.” Most of the time, this is just a half/full flush option that lets you use less water to flush less “matter.”

Bonus points!

Install a composting toilet – this option is not for everyone, but if you’re up for the challenge, you can disconnect the plumbing to your toilet and eliminate the use of water all together. The technology of composting toilets has come a long way, but from the feedback I’ve gathered from various users, it still has a little way to go. To learn more about these neat contraptions, try visiting some of the manufacturer’s websites:

Bathtubs and showers

The next biggest water user in your home is your bathtub/shower, making up about 35% of your household’s use. Here are some fairly simple tips to consider when trying to reduce your water use while getting squeaky clean:

Install a low-flow shower head - These have become more and more popular recently. Many local municipalities will even give you a couple for free, so call up your city hall and see if they’ll help out. If you prefer a more luxurious shower, there are lots of options out there. With the amount of water they save, you’ll likely recoup your investment in much less than a year. I bought a Waterpik model at a local department store. You can do the same or select one of the several offered on Amazon.

Take fewer, shorter showers - Don’t gasp when I tell you that I don’t take a shower every day. I still keep very clean! It seems we in the States have become obsessed with being clean. Showering every or even twice a day has probably become so habitual for most people that we don’t even realize that we’re still clean when we step in. I always shower after I exercise and never go longer than 2 full days without one, but I try to stay conscious about why I’m bathing. Some days, all that’s necessary is a quick face and armpit wash and I’m clean as a whistle. You might be uncomfortable with this suggestion. That’s fine. Do what works for you. Maybe your best option would simply be to stay aware of how long your showers last. Cutting down unnecessary time spent lounging around can save a whole lot of water and money – but don’t be afraid to let yourself splurge once in awhile on a nice, long shower. Life’s too short to deprive yourself completely.

Don’t take scalding hot showers - Some people I know can’t get a shower hot enough to satisfy them. They’d be in heaven with third degree burns all over their backs. Personally, I prefer a much milder temperature, but if you’re the type that likes it hot, consider backing off just a little. This will actually go a long ways to save you electricity (or gas) as your water heater will not have to work nearly as hard to get that water to you.

Take showers instead of baths - The average bath uses around 30 gallons of water. The average shower uses only 10. Want to verify that? Close the drain the next time you hop in the shower and see how much the tub fills up. I think you should still take a bath once in awhile as they’re good for the soul, but if you’re the type that takes one every day, you might consider switching up your routine to knock a few turns off the water meter.

Sinks

Reducing your water consumption at the sink is really all about psychology. Once you’ve verified you have an aerator installed on your faucet, you’ll want to focus on doing the following things in order to cut your use even further:

Turn the water off while brushing your teeth – You’re only using the water for the first and last few seconds of your brushing session, so why leave the faucet on while you just stare at it, right?

Turn the water down while washing your hands – This might seem petty, but it can really add up if your whole household is doing it. We wash our hands around 15-20 times a day. Can you see the potential here for a family of 4 that does this for a year? (This tip originally said “turn the water off while lathering your hands, but then I realized how ridiculous that was)

Saving Electricity

So far we’ve looked at all sorts of ways to cut your water bill in the bathroom. That’s where you’ll make your biggest gains, but assuming you aspire to do even more, know that you can save a little electricity as well. Here’s how:

Reduce hot water use whenever possible - I know I mentioned this above, but I’m doing it again. Any time you use less hot water, you’ll save electricity or gas that your water heater must use to heat more.

Plug accessories into a power strip - Turn it off when not in use. Lots of your bathroom gadgets can suck a little current while they’re plugged in, but turned off.

Avoid using a heat lamp – These buggers use a ton of energy to heat you up. Turn it on for a moment if you’re freezing, but be conscious of it and turn it off as soon as you don’t need it anymore. I like to dry myself off while still in the shower to help alleviate the rush of cold that comes from opening the curtain and stepping out all wet.

Fresh water is one of our most precious resources and one that can be significantly better protected with just a little bit of thought from a lot of people. Doing many little, seemingly insignificant things may not seem as exciting as building a green home, disconnecting from the grid, or buying an electric car, but they are the building blocks for these larger gestures. Without an understanding and appreciation for the fundamentals, the grand has little meaning or direction.

What are some of the little things you do to conserve resources in the bathroom? Has anyone just tried pooping less?
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Improve Your Water Heater Efficiency And Save $125 A Year

Tyler — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:00:03 +0000

Your water heater is one of the most important appliances in your home. Without it, you’d be taking cold showers, washing your hands with cold water, and your dishwasher would have a rather hard time cleaning all those soiled dinner plates. To keep your life as convenient as possible, your water heater is working really hard to make sure you have all the hot water you need on a daily basis. However, in doing so, it’s also using up quite a lot of electricity. In fact, the only thing in your house using more is likely your refrigerator.

At an average $0.11 per kWh for electricity, the average American family spends around $1.30 per day for their hot water needs. This equates to $475 every year. If you could improve the efficiency of your water heater by just 25% (a very attainable goal), you could save $125 every year. Below are 5 simple things that you can do to reduce your water heater’s electricity usage.

Turn down the thermostat - Your water heater’s thermostat will probably allow you to turn the temperature up to around 160°, but you shouldn’t if you want to save energy. Most people find that they can get by just fine with their thermostat set to 120° -- above that and you’re just paying for water that will serve little purpose but to scald you when you turn a faucet on too hot.

Insulate the hot water pipe - No, you don’t need to undergo any renovation to do this. Most of the heat that is lost in transmission from the tank to your faucet occurs in the first 6 feet of pipe leaving the water heater. If you look at yours, you’ll probably find that there is at least 3 feet of exposed pipe that you can insulate. This can make a big difference. Any hardware store will carry the insulation you need. Just be sure to measure the diameter of the pipe before you buy to ensure a snug fit. Identifying the hot water pipe is really easy, too. Just feel all of them. Only one will be hot to the touch.

Put a jacket on it - Do you get cold in the winter? Well, so does your water heater! By insulating the whole unit with a water heater jacket, you will improve your water heater’s efficiency by keeping the water it has already heated hot. When exposed to prolonged cold conditions, the heating element in your unit will have to stay on much more often in order to keep your water hot. Your local hardware store probably carries one or two that you can choose from. Here’s one available from Amazon.

Clean it out - Over time, sediment and deposits build up in the tank of your water heater, forcing it to work harder and harder to deliver the same performance. You can eliminate this problem by occasionally cleaning your tank out. It’s not that difficult and you only need to do it about once a year to really benefit. Just shut down all power to the unit, connect a garden hose to the emptying spigot and find a safe place to dump the water out. That’s really all there is to it. The video below gives an in depth explanation of how to do this safely and effectively for a gas water heater. For an electric one, just make sure you trip the breaker for it at the electrical panel. Check it out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmlLxEuhnGc

Reduce hot water consumption -- The best way to reduce your water heating bill is to simply use less hot water. Take shorter showers. Use an efficient dishwasher -- some newer models have a heater built in for on-demand use. Wash your clothes in cold water -- hot water is rarely needed to clean clothes these days with advanced detergents we have access to. Use less, spend less. It’s not the easiest concept to master, but it’s still the best.

If you’re extra ambitious:

Install a solar water heater -- This tip will cost the most to implement ($1000-$3500), but is a fantastic way to substantially reduce your electric water heating needs (well beyond the 25% we were aiming for). Don’t be put off by the price. You may be eligible for a number tax credits and rebates for installing a system like this.

There, you now have, on average, $125 a year to do something constructive with: put it in your emergency fund, use it to save towards another goal, or donate it to a worthy cause. The best part about these tips are that they all cost nothing or very little to implement. With the exception of the solar water heater, the materials you buy to implement the other 5 tips will pay for themselves within about 4 months.

Be sure to share any other hot water saving tips you might have up your sleeve!

Dump Your Dryer and Rack Up the Savings

Tyler — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:00:15 +0000

Well, summer is in full swing here in the great state of Oregon, and as usual, I’m looking for new opportunities to save money on my electricity bill. A few weeks ago, our old clothes dryer started making a (really annoying) high pitched squeal while running and I just haven’t bothered to put on the appliance repairman hat yet. My first idea was to just never get my clothes dirty again. After that fantasy came and went, I thought that, given the great weather, I might use this summer as an opportunity to learn more about air drying my laundry and kicking that dryer to the curb once and for all.

How much can I save?

Before I started, though, I needed to know just how much I could save for my efforts. After wrestling my dryer around in the basement for a few minutes, I wiped the sweat from my brow and discovered that the little plate that states all the electrical characteristics of my machine was inside the door. Oh well, I got a little extra exercise. Turns out, our behemoth in the basement uses 5600 watts! I typically do one load of laundry a week. The drying time for each load is, conveniently, about an hour.

Assuming a few odd loads here and there, we’ll say I do 60 loads of laundry every year. That’s 336 kwh (kilowatt hours) per year used to dry laundry (5600 ÷ 1000)*60. Multiply that number by my utility rate (about $0.11 per kwh) and I come up with a whopping $37 annual savings if I air dry every single load. If you’re thinking, “Hmm, is that it? $37 a year?,” I thought the same thing. Is it really worth the trouble? Try to remember that I am only 1 person – 1 person that does laundry rather infrequently. If you handle laundry for the typical American family, you’ll likely save somewhere closer to $500. Now that’s more like it! If you want to get into the real nitty-gritty, the folks over at Project Laundry List offer a pretty interesting and rather comprehensive Excel calculator that you can download here.

As you can see, air drying the laundry won’t be a very lucrative venture for me, but it very well could be for you. This just reinforces the fact that the ideas and solutions that I address here at Frugally Green are not one-size-fits-all. Everyone’s situation is different and lots of ideas can be implemented to varying degrees. Decide what’s best for you and pursue with fervor!

How do I get started?

So, for the last month, I’ve kept a brief journal of my effort to resist the dryer and air dry my clothes. I’ll share a few lessons I’ve learned along the way as well as some tips I’ve compiled from around the internet to help make your transition to air drying a little less rocky.

Week 1 - Not a warm or windy day. Hung the clothes out under the covered porch and took off to run other errands. Kind of nice not having to wait for the dryer to stop to prevent wrinkles. Took everything down about 6 hours later when it was “mostly” dry. Socks, underwear, and towels were all a bit…um…crunchy? Will have to figure out a solution for that.

Week 2 – Did not air dry this week. Feeling guilty. Came home from a camping trip Sunday evening and needed some of my dirty clothes for work the next day. Looks like budgeting drying time will have to move up the priority list a bit. Next week, if it’s nice out, I’ll try drying in the sunlight to see if that improves things.

Week 3 – Perfect weather. Hung the clothes out on the fence behind the house. The sun and a steady wind dried them out much quicker – probably only about 2 hour, though I wasn’t timing. Read an article saying that drying in the sun can fade colors. Tip: turn clothes inside out while drying to prevent this. Bought a bottle of fabric softener for the wash. It helped a little bit with the “crunchiness,” but I’m still not totally satisfied.

Week 4 - Not satisfied with the stiffness of my clothing, I posted a question in the comments of a related post over on one of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly. Several of the awesome readers there suggested I try tumbling them in the dryer for 5-10 minutes on low heat once they’re almost dry. Gave this a shot and bingo! No more stiff, crunchy socks.

After a month, I think I’ve finally got this figured out. Feel free to learn much faster now that you know some of the tips I didn’t.

More useful tricks

Here are a few more tips and tricks I’ve picked up a long the way that you might find useful in your adventure to ditch your dryer:

Hang immediately after washing – The quicker your clothes come out of the washing machine, the more wrinkle free they will be after drying. Consider turning down the speed of your spin cycle if your washer allows. It will take a bit longer to fully dry, but will also help tremendously with wrinkles.
Buy (or build) an indoor hanging rack – Most indoor racks today can hold an entire load of laundry. Drying indoors will take longer than outdoors, but probably not if it’s raining! They’ll also provide some humidity if your house tends to dry out in the winter. I’ve seen many for sale on my local Craigslist and at garage sales around town.
Substitute vinegar for fabric softener – I’m going to start doing this as soon as I use up the bottle of softener I already bought. Vinegar is a lot cheaper and leaves no smell once dry. It’s a great substitute if you’re sensitive to perfumes. Vinegar can also play a vital role in many other aspects of your laundry care. Read about them here.

Go forth and dry with the breeze!

Do you air dry your laundry already? Have any other tips Frugally Green readers might find useful?