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MasterShield’s aluminum housing is guaranteed not to crack, chip, or blister. (Courtesy of MasterShield)

By Debra Atlas

As summer blends into fall, the annual clearing of clogged rain gutters looms for most homeowners. A thankless but necessary job, it seems no matter what kind of gutters one has, they are going to require a trip up the ladder.

Someone has finally invented a system that changes all this.

MasterShield Gutter Protection promises to end the whole gutter clogging cycle. The system was created by Alex Higginbotham, inventor of the first self-cleaning gutter guard and numerous other related inventions. Utilizing a surgical-grade, stainless steel, micromesh cloth filter that separates water from all sorts of debris, MasterShield filters water more quickly and fully than standard gutter protection systems.

With its innovative, patented LeafRelease technology, MasterShield’s stepped, nonstick surface does not trap debris like other systems. Its HydroVortex technology siphons water into the gutter faster, working at both flat or vertical angles. Its raised ribs help separate rainwater from debris, helping to dry and blow debris away more quickly than it would on a solid or flat surface. The micro filter completely encloses your gutter, guaranteeing that it stays 100-percent debris free. And because it is self-cleaning, it is maintenance free for life.

Higginbotham’s gutter guard technology—which has been copied, or attempted to be copied by other gutter guard manufacturers—is the only workable gutter guard technology that still is patent protected. According to the inventor, no one has achieved a patent in this field without incorporating his technology into their design. Without Higginbotham’s technology, stainless steel filters simply clog and fail.

See MasterShield gutter guard in action here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

When it comes to MasterShield’s appeal, it spans its many features, including green ones. Its aluminum housing—coated with a baked-on enamel finish that is guaranteed not to crack, chip, or blister—is made with 95 percent recycled content. The product’s stainless steel contains more than 30 percent recycled content.

For homeowners more deeply into green, MasterShield also helps with rainwater reclamation. Homeowners can route the flowing water from the rain gutter downspout directly to rain barrels which can then be used for watering home gardens and landscaping.

Among MasterShield’s other pluses, it works with new or existing gutters, because it blends with the roofline, it is virtually invisible from the ground, and installing it will not void your roof warranty.

MasterShield’s No Clog Warranty, which says the consumer’s gutter will not clog is unique to the industry. If a gutter somehow does clog, the company will replace it or refund the product cost of the MasterShield installed on the consumer’s house. And if there is damage from a clog, the company will refund the consumer’s insurance deductible, up to $1,500.

Several years ago, the Better Business Bureau received complaints about the lack of follow-up, customer service, and issues with the product provided by a company that installed MasterShield. These pertain to an Ohio company and its installation of the original version of the product, said Jennie Klahre, assistant account executive for RLF Communications, speaking on behalf of MasterShield Gutter Protection, a company based in New Jersey.

“It has happened before that [the two companies have] been confused [with each other],” Klahre says. In late 2009, the New Jersey company introduced a new version that overlaps at the roof’s seams, which seems to have solved the original issues.

Also some consumers have had issues with ice formation during the wintertime with their Leafguard gutter shields by MasterShield. Consumers who live in an area that gets plenty of snow should consider that possibility.

See consumer magazine tests and reports on MasterShield gutter guard:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many MasterShield dealers will match the MasterShield product guarantee with a warranty of their own on their installation costs. And many also provide the industry’s first ever Birds & Bees Nest Guarantee. The warranty is even transferable if a consumer sells his home.

As to aesthetics, MasterShield is available in 14 different colors to match existing shingles or gutters—and consumers can special order it in copper. Manufactured in the United States, MasterShield will fit virtually any style and common-size roofline. The company says it is most effective when pitched with the roof.

Competitively priced, MasterShield can mean peace of mind for homeowners—and an end to that potentially dangerous annual trip up the ladder.

An environmental journalist and blogger, Debra Atlas is reachable through Eco-hub.net or debraatlas@gmail.com. Check out more articles by Debra Atlas.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

By E.Q. Lam

SAN FRANCISCO — The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park is the city’s first green building that is completely off the power grid. It features on-site solar energy generation, rainwater collection, and sewage treatment—taking advantage of the sun, the rain, and the natural surroundings. “We don’t want to connect to the grid,” says Tracy Zhu, EcoCenter green building design program manager.

The self-sustaining EcoCenter uses sustainable landscaping around the green building and on the “living roof,” in addition to the solar array, rainwater storage system, and wastewater treatment system. The community center is run by Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), which for the past 10 years has been restoring and managing the land at Heron’s Head Park.

LEJ (pronounced “ledge”) also has built a connection with the people in the historically polluted southeast part of the city and beyond. In constructing the EcoCenter, LEJ incorporated the voices of hundreds of community members and built relationships with dozens of industry and government partners to make the center a reality, Zhu says. Companies such as Andersen Windows also joined in contributing to the construction of the center.

The EcoCenter, which opened in April 2010, serves as an example of green building design, community support, and cooperation with government and business entities. It is a sustainable symbol in an otherwise lackluster industrial area. Even though San Francisco is known as one of the greenest cities in the country, Zhu points out, “Who is it green for?” Most parks lie in other parts of the city, while Bayview-Hunters Point bears the brunt of environmental neglect, she says.

“If we look on the east side of San Francisco, the demographic tends to be families of color, low-income families, many more public housing projects than the west side of town,” Zhu says. “So we see this inequality and injustice within the city in terms of distribution of open space. We want to make sure this low-income community is benefitting as much as everyone else.”

Neighboring the EcoCenter is Recology, a company which sorts and ships recyclable materials such as paper and plastics to recycling facilities across the country and abroad. Other industrial neighbors of the EcoCenter are Bode Concrete, a factory; Darling International, a meat rendering facility; and PG&E, a utility company. Also nearby are bus depots and a sewage treatment plant, Zhu says.

“There’s a lot of respect for this building,” says Zhu about the EcoCenter. She points to the absence of tagging, scratching, or other graffiti as evidence of the community’s acceptance of the center.

More than 1,500 students, who LEJ sees as the green generation, visited the EcoCenter even before the building existed. Since the completion of the building, traffic of adult visitors in particular has increased, including policy makers and teachers, Zhu says.

“This area seems hard to reach, but for people who live here, it’s very accessible,” says Zhu. “Our main goal is to connect the local people to local resources. But we go above and beyond that.”

The community has responded positively to the youth employment, free education, and teacher training services that LEJ makes available at the EcoCenter. The center hopes to partner with businesses to offer green jobs training, Zhu says.

Replicating EcoCenter Features at Home

The center demonstrates a multitude of eco-friendly features that can work for the home as well. The environment around the EcoCenter influenced the decisions on what features the building would have, Zhu says—from energy and water sources to building blocks such as energy-efficient windows.

See a tour of the EcoCenter, led by Zhu:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As an energy conservation alternative, the center has a passive solar system which feeds into a battery bank. The center puts to use sunlight, which penetrates through the passive solar glazing on the center’s many windows.

“This forces us to live off the seasonal cycle,” Zhu points out. In the winter, the center would conserve more. The primary consideration for planning the center’s energy use, she says, was the windows and doors.

“Because that’s where you lose it and gain it,” explains Blain Beckmann, a certified green building professional with Andersen Windows. Andersen provided the energy-efficient windows at the EcoCenter.

Andersen, which has a track record as a green company, uses third-party certified sources for its materials, such as forest-harvested materials that are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. “Over 70 percent of what Andersen purchases is from FSC sources,” Beckmann says. “Being environmentally conscious, it’s no new thing for us. We’ve been around since 1903.”

The company installed two types of sustainable windows at the EcoCenter. The indoor windows, which separate the rooms yet allow heat from the south-facing room to travel through, are made with FSC materials, while the outside, south-facing windows are Fibrex with glazing that allows the path of solar heat gain to pass through. Heat regulation is achieved by closing off sections of the interior windows.

Andersen developed Fibrex windows by looking to re-use material left over from other operations within the company. Forty percent of the fiber in the windows is reclaimed from milling operations and the factory. “We take the sawdust on our floors, we suck it up and use it,” Beckmann explains.

Fibrex windows are three times as rigid as hollow vinyl. The cost of Andersen’s environmentally friendly windows, however, is comparable to the traditional hollow vinyl ones, Beckmann says. “It’s a responsible product for about the same price as regular [windows].”

A major advantage to these windows is that they require no painting. The color will endure for the lifetime of the windows. “These windows should last the life of a home—at least,” Beckmann says. And because they do not need painting, it eliminates one source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contributing to bad air quality.

Andersen windows are warranted against rotting and peeling. Dual windows can fail over a longer term due to the expansion and contraction from weathering, Beckmann explains. “By being so stable, we eliminate a lot of that movement,” he says.

With so many windows, the EcoCenter is perfectly situated in one of the sunniest parts of San Francisco. “The number one compliment about this building is how much sunlight it gets and how gratifying it is,” Zhu says.

Other features at the EcoCenter include exposed electrical conduits. They required more planning to bury in the walls during construction, Zhu explains. More importantly, the conduits serve as a teaching tool about the electrical grid, as visitors can follow the energy back to its source. “This is our way of making visible the electrical grid,” Zhu says.

Permeable pavements on the park grounds help capture and filter water. Low-impact landscaping features native plants, which are irrigated with a subsurface system to efficiently feed plants at the roots. The countertops are recycled from bottles, the building façade is reclaimed wood, and the cabinets and sliding doors were re-utilized. Recycled materials make up the artwork displayed in and around the facility.

A Challenge but a Success

Regulatory barriers challenged LEJ in bringing all the features it wanted for the EcoCenter, from building on a landfill to obtaining a certificate of occupancy. The on-site wastewater treatment permit was the most controversial issue, Zhu says. The center is the first building in the city with its own system of this type.

The community center has no connection to the city’s storm water drainage system, either. “Right now we’re not using the rainwater to plumb our toilets, because, again, another permitting issue. But in the future it will be,” Zhu says. “It took many years to get to this point, and hopefully, we’re paving the way for others.”

The services of the EcoCenter are available to the greater San Francisco community. This includes giving Bay Area teachers the opportunity to incorporate sustainability into their curriculum through hands-on learning. As a community center, the EcoCenter also makes itself available for event rental, including as meeting space for companies, government agencies, and the community, as well as space for retreats and family celebrations. Companies such as Salesforce.com have sent workers to the EcoCenter on corporate volunteer days, Zhu says.

The center’s accomplishments were recognized in 2010 with an Environmental Justice Achievement Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The next step is to connect the community with the green building industry, Zhu says, by harnessing investment in education programs.

Check out more articles by E.Q. Lam.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

Heating water in our homes accounts for 17% of all home energy use in the United States. The first step in shrinking your water heating energy is to conserve. The less hot water you use, the less you’ll pay for energy and the smaller your carbon footprint will be. To do this, you don’t need to endure cold showers–you just need to use your hot water wisely. And when it’s time to replace your existing water heater, step up to a high-efficiency model. You’ll be amply rewarded in savings of energy and money.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Top Tips

At home

• Take it easy. Don’t run the hot water tap longer than necessary and don’t use hot water for tasks that are accomplished just as well with cold water, such as washing clothes.
• Fix leaky pipes and faucets.
• Install low-flow faucets and showerheads.
• Buy efficient appliances. When replacing clothes washers and dishwashers, choose water-efficient models–the less water these appliances use, the less water heating energy you need.
• Turn down the heat. Lower your water heater’s thermostat to 120°F (about the midpoint between the low and medium settings, if degrees aren’t marked on the thermostat). That’s plenty hot enough for all household uses, unless you have an old dishwasher that doesn’t have an internal booster heater. And when you’re going out of town for more than a few days, turn the water heater’s thermostat to the lowest setting.
• Blanket your tank. Cut energy use by wrapping the water heater tank with an insulating blanket. Blankets, or jackets, as they’re sometimes called, can reduce the operating costs of older models by 4% to 9%. Here’s a rule of thumb: if the outside wall of the water heater feels warm to the touch, it needs a blanket. They’re inexpensive, available at most home improvement stores, and easy to install if you follow the directions that come with the blanket.
• Insulate all accessible hot water pipes. This reduces heat loss and provides faster delivery of hot water to your taps, which also saves water. Home improvement stores carry foam insulation designed to fit snugly around pipes.
• Get faster delivery. A demand-controlled circulating hot water system can reduce hot water waste and speed up the time it takes hot water to reach the tap.
• Trap the heat. Heat rises, so hot water has a tendency to rise up in the inlet and outlet pipes above the tank, which wastes heat. To prevent this, many newer water heater tanks have “heat traps,” small check valves added to the pipes above the tank. If your water heater doesn’t have these traps, a plumber can add them. A set of two costs about $30 plus labor and can save $15 to $30 annually on your water heating costs.

When shopping, look for

• An Energy Star. In January 2009 the government’s energy efficiency program will start labeling the most efficient water heaters as “Energy Stars.” Only the five most efficient types of water heaters will be eligible: Gas storage, gas-condensing storage, gas tankless, heat pump, and solar. Energy Star will not cover the least efficient water heaters: electric storage and electric tankless.

• The right fuel source. First, find out what’s available where you live and how much it costs. Options include electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, propane, solar energy, and even heat stored in the ground. Heating water with natural gas, propane, or fuel oil is usually more energy efficient and less expensive than heating with electricity. The sun’s energy is free, of course, but you have to be able to handle higher upfront costs of the system. Pumps that tap the heat stored in the ground may be cost effective, too, depending on your climate and other factors.
• A high “EF.” Storage, tankless, and heat-pump water heaters are rated with an Energy Factor (EF). The higher the EF, the more efficient the unit is. (Solar and indirect water heaters use different measurements of efficiency.) The EF is a good way to compare heaters within the gas-fired group. But it’s misleading when comparing gas versus electric. The EFs of electric water heaters are higher (.90+) than those of gas water heaters, but don’t reflect significant energy losses when electricity is generated and distributed.
• Appropriate size. The system’s size depends on how many people live in your home, the amount of water used and the kind of equipment you are using. Keep in mind that if you make an effort to conserve hot water, you may be able to get by with a smaller, less expensive model.

Avoid

• Electric water heaters. The least efficient options are electric storage and electric tankless water heaters. If electric heating is your only option, consider a heat pump water heater.

Other Considerations

When a water heater gives out, most people replace it with a similar unit. That’s fine if you have a gas water heater and you buy one of today’s high-efficiency models. Beyond that, things start to get complicated. Solar water heating is the greenest option. Apart from solar, the most energy-efficient choices are gas-fired tankless water heaters with electronic ignition, heat-pump water heaters, combined space and water heaters, and gas-fired condensing storage water heaters.

• Heaters with tanks.Most water heaters are “storage water heaters.” The water is heated, then stored in a tank until needed. Eventually the water in the tank cools down and has to be reheated. Some 15% percent of a water heater’s energy can be wasted this way–it’s called “standby heat loss.” More insulation in the tank’s walls helps reduce standby heat loss.
  • In 2009, Energy Star high-efficiency sealed-combustion gas storage water heaters will have to have an EF of .62 or greater. In 2010, that goes up to .67 or greater. Also known as “power-vented” or “direct-vented,” sealed combustion means that pipes bring outside air directly to the water heater’s combustion chamber and vent the exhaust gases directly outside. Sealed combustion water heaters do a better job of protecting home health because there’s no chance that combustion gases can get drawn into the house.
  • To increase your energy savings more dramatically, consider a gas-fired condensing storage water heater. Energy Star condensing heaters will have an EF of .80 or greater. These units are more expensive to buy and install than a high-efficiency non-condensing gas water heater. They save energy by extracting heat from gases in the flue before they are vented outside. This cools the water vapor in the flue gases to the point where it condenses into a liquid. These units require special venting and a pipe to drain the condensate to the wastewater line.
  • Electric storage water heaters are much more expensive to operate than gas (although some electric utilities offer special low rates for electric water heating).
• Heaters without tanks.These devices (sometimes called “demand,” “instantaneous,” or “flash water heaters”) heat water only as needed, eliminating the problem of standby loss. They provide a continuous stream of hot water, take up a lot less space, and are about 10% to 20% more efficient than storage heaters. But they’re expensive–costing two to four times more to install than storage water heaters–and tend to work best for smaller households or low water users.
  • Tankless water heaters don’t deliver hot water instantly. The time it takes for hot water to reach a tap is a function of how far the tap is from the water heater.
  • Each model provides a specific flow rate. Units with lower flow rates may not deliver enough hot water when there is simultaneous demand, such as when a shower and dishwasher are running at the same time. Gas tankless heaters also have a minimum flow rate and some won’t turn on if you just have the tap open to a trickle.
  • Choose a gas tankless model with an electronic ignition to avoid having a pilot light on all the time wasting gas. Energy Star gas tankless water heaters will have an EF of .82 or greater.
  • Electric tankless heaters are usually the least green option, unless you have a bathroom that’s infrequently used and located far from the main water heater. Then it might make sense to install a small electric tankless heater in that bathroom rather than run pipes all the way from the main heater.
  • If switching from a storage heater to tankless, the size of the gas supply line may need to be increased or the home’s electrical service may need to be upgraded and new wiring installed.
• Other options. Conventional storage water heaters dominate the market, although installations of tankless units have been growing in recent years. Some other, less common systems are listed below. To find out more about them, talk to an HVAC professional.
  • The majority of U.S. homes are heated by a forced air furnace, but if yours is heated by a boiler, consider an indirect water heater. Instead of relying on combustion to heat the household water, these units have a heat exchanger that draws heat from the boiler. Well-designed indirect water heaters can be more efficient than conventional storage water heaters.
  • Integrated space and water heating systems take the indirect water heater concept one step further. Configurations vary, but these units integrate a high-efficiency boiler and a hot-water storage tank into one appliance to provide household hot water and space heating. These units tend to cost more than separate water heaters and furnaces, and due to the complexity of their controls, some require installers with specialized skills.
  • If you have no choice but to heat your water with electricity, consider a heat-pump water heater. It uses one third the electricity of a standard electric water heater. But there are downsides: it will be much more expensive to buy and uses refrigerants that deplete the ozone layer and produce greenhouse gases. If you use a heat pump to heat and cool your house, you may be able to have it modified to also heat your water.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
Energy-efficient water heaters typically cost more upfront but less in the long run when you factor in reduced energy bills. A tankless heater can reduce your water heating energy costs by 10% to 20% over a storage heater.

…to the Earth
Using less hot water and choosing more efficient water heaters reduces fossil fuel depletion, CO2 emissions, and air pollution. Tankless heater and smaller storage heaters offer an additional benefit: they use less material to manufacture than large tanks.

Common Mistakes

Waiting for your water heater to fail. If your hot water dries up on the eve of your in-laws’ visit, you might jump into a hasty purchase that you’ll pay for in higher energy costs for years to come. Most storage water heaters last about 15 years (tankless should last about 20). If yours is approaching or has passed that age, consider replacing it now rather than waiting for it to fail. A plumber can give you an estimate of how much longer it’s likely to last.

Getting Started

Choosing the most appropriate, efficient, and cost-effective water heater is a complex undertaking. The Department of Energy’s Water Heating website has detailed information and worksheets that will take you through the details.

Related Products & Services

• Water conservation
• Showers and faucets
• Toilets
• Water heaters – solar

Let’s talk toilets. They use more water than anything else in our homes, accounting for as much as 40% of indoor water consumption. Since 1994, federal law has mandated that new toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. All toilets sold in the U.S. are low-flow toilets, although in the toilet trade they’re actually called “ultra low flush toilets” or ULFTs. If you go toilet shopping and the salesperson tells you a ULFT is something special, don’t be fooled. It merely meets the minimum legal requirements for a john.

The government has gotten tough on toilets because freshwater shortages are looming, especially in the western United States. But it’s not just Westerners who are worried about where tomorrow’s water is going to come from. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that managers in 36 states expect shortages in the next 10 years, even under normal, non-drought conditions.

If you want to help preserve our finite freshwater supplies–and bring your bills down–you can do better than just meeting the government’s minimum low-flush standards. Look for what’s called a “high efficiency toilet” or HET for short. HETs use no more than 1.3 gallons per flush–20% less than the federal standard.

Top Tips

When shopping, look for

• WaterSense. The government’s WaterSense program is similar to its Energy Star program, except it covers water instead of energy. Toilets with the WaterSense label use 20% less water than the federal standard while providing equal or better performance. WaterSense-labeled toilets have been independently tested and verified to meet the program’s criteria for efficiency and excellent performance.

• Dual-flush toilets. Popular in many parts of the world since the 1980s, dual-flush toilets are a great way to save water that is still unknown to many Americans. They use no more than 1.3 gallons per flush (gpf) on average and have two buttons or levers for flushing: for liquid waste and paper, there’s a low-volume flush (typically about 0.9 gpf); and for solid waste, there’s a standard flush (no more than 1.6 gpf). Replacing a regular 1.6-gpf toilet with a dual-flush toilet can save a family of four about 7,000 gallons per year. The savings will be even greater if replacing an older toilet.
• Performance. Some of the first generation low-flow toilets from the 1990s didn’t work well–and truth be told, a few of the low-flow toilets sold today aren’t up to snuff. Double flushing, blockages, and too much “streaking” on the bowl have made low-flow johns the butt of jokes and even prompted federal lawmakers to attempt, unsuccessfully, to repeal the low-flow mandate. Fortunately, toilet technology has advanced and there are many low-flow and HET models that offer excellent performance. Look for the WaterSense label–those toilets have been tested to meet the program’s criteria for flushing performance as well as water efficiency. If you have your eye on a toilet that doesn’t have the WaterSense label, look up the toilet model on the MaP testing report. MaP stands for Maximum Performance, a toilet testing protocol that measures how good the toilet is at bulk removal, in other words, how likely it is to clog. Download the MaP testing results from the California Urban Water Conservation Council’s website.
• Better bowls, trapways, flush valves. Better toilets typically have redesigned bowls, so that there’s a larger surface area of water in the bowl. They also have improved trapways (the S-shaped drainage pipe) to prevent clogging. Some models have a larger flush valve between the bottom of the tank and the bowl (3 or 3 ½ inches wide rather than the usual 2 inches), which provides a more forceful flush. And smoother porcelain surfaces keep the bowl cleaner.

Other Considerations

• When shopping for a new toilet, you’ll discover that there are three flushing technologies used: gravity (the most common), pressure-assisted, and vacuum-assisted. All are available as HETs, and there are good (and sometimes bad) performers in each category. Pressure-assisted toilets tend to have a more powerful flush than gravity toilets, but they’re much noisier. They can make a startling “whoosh” when flushed. Gravity toilets work well even if the home’s water pressure is low, while pressure-assisted models require good water pressure (at least 25 pounds per square inch). Vacuum-assisted models tend to flush very quietly, a plus if your home is small or the bathroom is located near public areas of the house.
• Urinals aren’t common in homes, but they can be savers if you choose a high efficiency model. These use as little as one pint (0.125 gallons) per flush. Even better, choose a waterless urinal. They’ve been used in commercial buildings for more than 15 years and are starting to turn up in some homes. Waterless urinals typically have a low-density sealant fluid that sits in the urinal’s drain, letting urine pass through while keeping odors from coming back up through the drain.
• You’re not alone if you don’t know what a bidet is. Common in some cultures but relatively unknown to Americans, bidets are used for a sit-down wash after you’ve used the toilet. It doesn’t use energy, but could be a small drain on your water resources (unless it allows you to take fewer showers). More frivolous yet are toilet add-ons like heated seats and automatic air dryers.
• A few of today’s greenest homes use rain or greywater for toilet flushing instead of clean drinking water. If you’re the first in your community to take this step, you may have some local permitting obstacles to overcome. Another option is going waterless with a composting toilet. Rare in cities and suburbs because of permitting issues but more common in rural areas, composting toilets convert human waste into compost that can be safely used to fertilize plants. Most experts advise against using composted “humanure” to fertilize food plants.
• If buying a new toilet isn’t in your budget or you can’t convince your landlord to replace your old toilet, try modifying it to use less water. Place a water-filled plastic bag or bottle or a brick in the tank to displace water volume, install toilet dams to hold back some of the water during a flush, or install a flapper that closes before the tank completely empties. Some old toilets won’t work well with a reduced water volume, but these modifications cost little or nothing and are easily reversible, so it’s worth a try. Savings range from 0.5 to 1.5 gpf. That won’t make an older 3.5 gpf toilet as good as any new toilet on the market today, but it’s better than nothing.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
The U.S. EPA says that if a family of four replaces its older toilets with WaterSense models, it will save more than $90 each year in reduced costs–that’s $2,000 over the toilets’ lifetime. If you use well water instead of municipal water, reducing your use will reduce the energy used to pump water.

More and more manufacturers are offering HETs, including dual-flush models, so you don’t necessarily have to pay more for water savings. Nor is a higher price necessarily an indicator of better performance. Many utility companies offer rebates for purchasing high efficiency toilets.

…to the Earth
The U.S. EPA says that if every U.S. home replaced its older, inefficient toilets with WaterSense labeled toilets, it would save nearly 640 billion gallons per year. That’s more water than flows over Niagara Falls in two weeks!

Common Mistakes

Making do with an inefficient toilet. If you can afford it, make the change to a more efficient toilet now. Government rebates can help lower the cost.

Getting Started

Low flush, ultra low flush, high efficiency–the nomenclature can make your head spin. When shopping, remember the number: look for a toilet that uses no more than 1.3 gpf. And look for the WaterSense label.

Related Articles

Conservation

Showers and faucets

Water heaters – conventional

Water heaters – solar

Greywater-Going Grey to Get Green

Air and Water: A Right or Privilege for all Citizens?

Sierra Club Low-Flow Showerheads

The Early Bird Saves Water 

For the salmon, the climate, and your wallet

Most of us take water for granted. But using more than we need costs us money and harms the environment by depriving other creatures of this vital liquid. In California, for example, so much water is drawn out of the rivers that some fish species are threatened with extinction. The once-mighty salmon migrations, which depend on rivers, shrank so much in 2008 that salmon fishing had to be banned. But even in water-rich states like Wisconsin, which boasts more than 84,000 miles of rivers, 15,000 lakes, and 1,000 miles of shoreline on two of the world’s biggest lakes, the governor recently called a conference on water conservation because the state relies so heavily on badly depleted underground water. No state, city, or private landowner can afford to ignore water consumption.

Also, the more water we use the more energy it takes. It’s not something you’re likely to think about when you jump into the shower or fill a cold glass from the tap, but it is pumped from wells, lakes, or reservoirs, then purified, pushed through pipelines and into water towers, warmed in heaters, and pumped and treated after it runs down the drain. All these processes combined take a lot of energy. For example, almost 20% of California’s energy consumption is related to water use. So when you conserve water, you also save another precious resource: energy.

Top Tips

At home

• Fill up the washers. When you use your dishwasher or clothes washer, make sure to fully load them so you don’t waste water washing small loads.
• Trick the toilet. Some toilets, especially older ones, use 3.5 gallons per flush or more. To cut down, put sand or rocks in a plastic bottle to weight it down, fill it with liquid, put the lid on tightly, and place in the toilet tank. Make sure the bottles don’t interfere with the mechanisms in the tank. And don’t overdo it. If you end up having to flush the toilet twice, your bottle is taking up too much space. There are also devices on the market that do the same job.
• Stop major toilet leaks ASAP. A toilet that keeps running (you can usually hear it) can waste as much two gallons every minute!
• Stop “silent” toilet leaks. A “silent” leak in a toilet can waste thousands of gallons a month. To find a silent leak, put food coloring in the tank. Don’t flush. Check the toilet bowl after 10 or 20 minutes. If there is color in the bowl, your tank has a silent leak. These leaks are usually from a worn-out fill valve at the top of the tank or flapper valve at the bottom of the tank that fails to shut off when the tank is full. To replace the flapper, shut off the water at the toilet. Next, remove the worn valve and purchase a comparable replacement part. Replacing the top valve is somewhat more complicated, but you can do it if you are reasonable handy.
• Flush less. Don’t flush unless it is necessary. If you toss a tissue into the toilet, there’s really no need to waste a couple gallons flushing it away. When you run water waiting for it to get hot, put a container under the faucet and save this to use for something else, like watering plants.
• Fix dripping faucets. Drip, drip, drip. It may not seem like much, but it adds up. Just 100 drops per minute of dripping can waste 350 gallons in a month. A leak that’s a tiny stream can total 2,000 gallons a month. Most leaks can be stopped simply by replacing worn-out washers inside the faucet. These washers are cheap and easy to install.
• Check for hidden leaks. To find other hidden leaks, turn off all your taps. Check yourmeter and write down the reading. Don’t use any water for 30 minutes, then read the meter again. If it shows water has been used, then there’s a hidden leak that should be fixed promptly.
• Don’t run the tap when brushing teeth. Many people leave the tap running while brushing their teeth. This can waste hundreds of gallons each month. So turn off the tap while brushing, and only use water to rinse your mouth and your toothbrush.
• Use the garbage disposal only when you have to, and run as little water as possible into it. Or consider composting food waste and avoiding the garbage disposal altogether.
• When you wash dishes by hand, fill the sink and dip dishes in water to rinse rather than running a lot of water.
• Use your automatic dishwasher. Believe it or not, dishwashing machines are actually more efficient than hand-washing. Most dishwashers do not require pre-rinsing dishes by hand. Just scrape solid food off with a spatula.
• Take shorter showers, and take showers instead of baths. The longer you linger, the more you use. But filling a bathtub takes a lot more water than the average shower.

In the yard and garden

• Nix the lawn or shrink it to a more earth-friendly size. In many parts of the country, lawns are heavy water users. Smaller lawns also mean less mowing–and that saves time, money, and CO2 emissions.
• Water lawns less often, but more deeply-and don’t overwater. Over half of the average household’s water use is outside the house. Lawns are a major guzzler. Watering to the root depth of is best. In clay soil, one-half inch of water should moisten the soil to a depth of six inches. Lawns in very sandy soils need less water but more frequent application. To find out how deeply the water is penetrating, turn on the sprinkler for five minutes, then push a spade in to check your depth. If five minutes moistens the soil two inches down, you may need to water for fifteen minutes to moisten it down to six inches.
• Water shrubs more deeply and less frequently.
• Use brooms and buckets. You can waste a lot blasting dirt and leaves off your driveway or sidewalk with a hose. Instead, use a broom. And when you wash your car, use a few buckets of water instead of hosing it off.
• Water as early as possible. Watering early in the morning means that less is lost by evaporation from the sun. Also, plants are less likely to get diseases if addressed at this time, rather than in late afternoon or evening.
• Mulch and compost. Several inches of mulch will keep moisture in the soil while it suppresses weeds. You can use everything from grass clippings to newspapers for mulch. Also, adding compost to the soil helps it retain moisture.
• Check outside for leaks too. Your sprinkler and irrigation systems are the prime suspects.

When shopping, look for

• Native or locally adapted plants. They’ll require less watering than plants that are not well-suited to your soils and climate. You’ll also save if you group plants by how thirsty they are.
• High-efficiency toilets. Some high-efficiency toilets take only 1.3 gallons per flush (gpf), or only about a third as much as older toilets. Some utilities give generous rebates for installation of the efficient toilets–in some cases up to the entire cost. Check with you local utility to find out if rebates are available.
• Low-flow showerheads. Install a efficient showerhead that takes no more than the federal maximum of 2.5 gallons per minute. “Low-flow” showerheads can do even better.
• Aerators. Low-flow aerators on your kitchen and bathroom faucets are easy to install and cut down on use and splashing. A flow rate of 2.2 gallons per minute is good for kitchen faucets and 1.5 gallons per minute for bathroom faucets.
• An efficient clothes washer. A high-efficiency machine can clean clothes better while using 30% to 50% less water and 40% to 70% less energy than conventional models. Look for a “water factor” label.
• Water-smart irrigation controllers. There are new products that automatically adjust irrigation based on actual weather conditions, shutting off when it rains, sending out more water in hot and dry spells, and reducing runoff from slopes by recycling what runs down them. You save money and have healthier gardens. Some districts even offer vouchers for savings on purchases of these new systems. Ask your local district about rebates.
• Drip irrigation. Drip irrigation systems apply water at the base of a plant instead of saturating soil all around it, and therefore they use a lot less water than an overhead sprayer. Slow, accurate application of water to the plant roots prevents water from running off on walkways and into gutters. A well designed drip system is durable. And there are even sub-surface drip irrigation systems for lawns. Ask about rebates for these systems too.
• Hand watering. Drip irrigation uses less water than sprinklers, but for small yards you can save even more if you use a hose. Studies show that people use less water and water less frequently when they do the job by hand.

Other Considerations

• Be aware of sliding-scale rates. To discourage water waste, many utilities charge more if you use above a certain amount. A district might charge a baseline price of a sixth of a cent per gallon for the first 150 gallons. But for every gallon above that baseline rate, the price might go up to a fifth of a cent or more.
• Want to be on the cutting edge of green gardening? Irrigate your yard with gray water. Gray water systems reuse the relatively clean waste water from showers, bathtubs, bathroom faucets, and clothes washers (never from toilets or dishwashers, and rarely from kitchen sinks). The most basic system is a bucket placed under the showerhead or tub faucet to collect water wasted during that annoying wait for the hot water to arrive. You can use the buckets to flush the toilet or water plants. More sophisticated setups pipe the gray water from the house through filters and then into the garden or a holding tank. To minimize health risks from contaminants that might be in the reused water, gray water is usually used for below-surface irrigation of nonedible plants. Gray water isn’t yet legal in some communities and states, so check with your local building department. Find out more about building a gray water system at www.graywater.net.
• Rainwater harvesting is a time-honored way of making the most of the pure water from the skies. Under ordinary circumstances, rainwater runs off your roof into the sewer or onto paved areas where it can pick up pollutants and carry them into local waterways. A rainwater harvesting system captures that roof runoff and directs it to a storage container, which can be anything from a basic covered barrel to a huge underground tank with a pump to get the runoff back up to the surface. Harvested rainwater is usually used for irrigation, although if it’s appropriately purified, it can also be used for drinking and cooking. If you want to try harvesting, make sure that your roof is made of a material that won’t leach contaminants. You should also have a “first flush valve” so that the first few minutes of rainfall is diverted into the normal drainage system rather than into the barrels or cistern. This helps keep contaminants like bird droppings and mold spores out of the harvested water.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
On average, U.S. households consume about 127,500 gallons a year. The average cost is only about a sixth of a cent per gallon, and the average household’s total bill comes to about $200 a year. That is a bargain. Of course many people pay more than this, depending on their use and higher-than-average rates in some areas. Many people can cut their use–and their costs–in half without even investing in new equipment. If you go all out, and invest a bit, you can save even more. Studies by the American Waterworks Association (AWWA) have found that in some cases consumption can be reduced by a whopping 75%.

…to the Earth
The less water we use, the more remains for the nature’s creatures to enjoy. Also, the less water we use, the less energy is required to pump and process it. That means less mining and drilling for coal, oil, and natural gas, which damages the environment. Lower energy use also lowers the emission of global-warming gases such as carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

Getting Started

• Look closely at your bills. If you are spending more than average, or are shocked at the bill, it’s especially important to study it. A big change may signal that you have a hidden leak.
• You can find many other products and ideas at the website of the American Waterworks Association. Many local waterworks also supply practical, money-saving information.
• Use our Green Directory to find pre-vetted water conservation experts in your area who can help you save water, energy and money.

Related Products & Services

• Conservation
• Showers and faucets
• Toilets
• Water heaters – conventional
• Water heaters – solar

Solar water-heating systems are different from the solar systems that make electricity. Collectors on your roof still grab energy from the sun, but in this case the energy is used to heat water. Of course not everyone has the right roof or enough sun to do the job. But the average U.S. household spends 11% of its energy budget heating water. So why not investigate your home’s potential to provide you with a hot shower or warm pool from this abundant, free source?

Solar water heaters for indoor water use save the most money if your household uses a lot of hot water–and if you use it from late morning through early afternoon when the solar collectors have maximum exposure to the sun. Smaller households that use hot water mostly early in the morning and in the evening can benefit, too, but the savings will be smaller.

Once the solar collectors heat the water, it’s stored in an insulated tank until needed. When the sun isn’t shining, the water in the tank slowly cools down, and a back-up heater kicks in to boost the temperature.

By the way, if you had a solar heater in the 1970s that didn’t hold up, don’t hold it against today’s products. There’s been a dramatic increase in reliability and efficiency since then.

See the very end of the article for more details on pools and hot tubs.

Top Tips

At home

• How low can you go? Using less energy is always less expensive than producing energy–even if that energy comes from the sun. So before you make a move to solar heating, look for ways to reduce your hot water use. Take shorter showers, and showers instead of baths. Install water-saving faucets and showerheads. If you’re buying a new dishwasher or clothes washer, choose a water-efficient model. Set your water heater temperature to 120°F, and turn it to “low” or “vacation” mode if you’re going to be out of town for more than a few days.
• Blanket your tank. Cut energy use by wrapping the water heater with an insulating blanket. They’re inexpensive and readily available at home improvement stores.
• Back it up. For regular household needs (kitchens, bathrooms and laundry), solar heaters provide water from 110°F to 180°F when the sun is shining. To ensure plenty of hot water first thing in the morning and during cloudy stretches, however, most solar homes have a back-up fossil-fuel-fired water heater. The back-up heater can either be a conventional heater or a tankless heater.

When shopping, look for

• Certification. Choose a solar heater system that’s certified by Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) an independent organization that verifies the performance of solar equipment.
• An Energy Star. The government’s labeling program for the most energy-efficient appliances and equipment, Energy Star, began covering solar water heaters in 2009. To earn the Energy Star label, a solar heater must have certification from the SRCC and a “solar fraction” of at least .50. A solar fraction is the portion of the water-heating needs served by the solar system rather than the back-up heater. A solar fraction of .50 means that 50% of the hot water is supplied by the solar heater and 50% by the back-up equipment.

Other Considerations

• If you are adding solar heating to an existing home, you’ll need to consider whether the roof can take the added weight, whether you have adequate unshaded south-facing space, and whether there’s room near your existing heater for an additional storage tank and pipes. A solar designer or installer can evaluate these considerations for you.
• Solar heaters are most cost effective in sunny climates. In cloudy climates, you may need a larger, more expensive system.
• For ideal performance, the solar collector should be located in an unshaded area that faces south. It should be tilted at an angle close to the latitude (a 37° angle for 37° latitude). But any orientation within 45° of south and any tilt from 15° to 60° will work well enough. If you have a pitched roof, you can mount the collector flush with the roof rather than having it jut out. Most solar water heaters today are streamlined and look like skylights on the roof from the exterior.
• If your home is heated with hot water circulating in tubes under the floors, look into going solar. You need hot water anyway, so why not solar? In such radiant-floor heating systems, a solar water heater is backed up by a conventional one.
• Check the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) for information about incentives and rebates for solar water heating.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
Solar water heating is much less expensive than solar electric and usually pays for itself in four to nine years. Most systems cost from $2,000 to $4,500. A typical household with an existing electric water-heating system could save up to $500 a year by going solar. If you have gas water heating, the savings are lower and the payback longer. But as natural gas supplies decline and prices rise, solar water heating will become a hedge against rising energy costs.

…to the Earth
Solar water heaters reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and demand for fossil fuels. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, replacing an electric water heater with a solar water heater offsets the equivalent of 40% to 100% of a typical passenger car’s CO2 output.

Common Mistakes

Doing it yourself. Some very experienced DIYers buy solar water heating components and do the installation themselves, but it’s not a project for the faint of heart. Most people have the systems professionally installed.

Getting Started

Here are some basic terms you’ll encounter when you dip your toes into the world of solar water heating.

Most solar water heater systems have two basic parts: a collector and a storage tank. The collector sits on the roof (or another sunny location), and the storage tank usually sits next to the home’s conventional water heater. Although most residential systems have a separate storage tank just for the solar heated water, some systems have tanks where the solar-heated and conventionally heated water mixes.

• Flat plate collectors are the most common. A pump circulates liquid through the collector, which typically looks like a shallow glass-covered box. When the sun is shining, it heats up the liquid in the collector. When the liquid is hot enough, the pump comes on and moves the hot water to a storage tank. In some systems, the liquid is potable water that’s stored in a tank that feeds into the home’s hot water pipes. In other systems, the liquid is an antifreeze solution that flows through a heat exchanger to transfer heat (but not liquid) to the home’s potable water.
• An evacuated tube collector also uses a pump to circulate water. It’s more efficient than a flat plate collector, but a lot more expensive. Water is heated inside a vacuum, so there’s less heat loss than with flat plate collectors. Rather than looking like a glass box, the collector has rows of metal fins. As with a flat plate collector, the heated water is stored in a tank, usually next to the conventional water heater.
• Batch collectors are considered passive water heaters. They don’t use pumps, which reduces electricity use and maintenance. But they require the storage tank to be placed higher than the collector, so weight can be an issue if the collector and tank are on the roof. When water in the collector gets hot enough, it naturally rises and is replaced by cooler water from the storage tank. Batch collectors are best in mild climates where freezes are rare (in cold climates, they need to be drained for the winter months).
• Before hiring a contractor, ask the following questions:
  • Does the solar professional have experience designing and installing the type of system you want?If you are in the market for a solar pool heater, for example, don’t hire a contractor who has only installed photovoltaic systems.
  • How many years has the contractor has been in the solar business and how many installations have they done? Solar is booming in many parts of the country; be cautious about hiring a newbie contractor.
  • Is the contractor licensed? Some states require solar contractors to have special licenses; check with the contractors’ license board in your state about requirements.
  • What specific services will the solar contractor provide? Most offer a “turnkey” service: they’ll analyze your site and energy needs, design an appropriate system, procure the equipment and materials, handle the utility company and rebate paperwork, obtain any necessary permits, and install the system.
  • Are the bids you received based on comparable information? When evaluating bids, make sure they are for the same type and size system. The bids should include all costs associated with buying and installing the system, including hardware, installation, permits, and grid connection (for PV systems). For PV systems, the bids should state the expected energy output in kilowatt-hours. Bids for solar hot water systems should include an estimate of how much energy will be saved in kilowatt-hours or “therms” (which each contain 100,000 Btu).
  • For general advice on what questions to ask contractors and other tradespeople, see our “What to Ask Your Contractor” article.

Pools and hot tubs

Solar pool heaters represent the majority of solar water heating systems installed in the United States. Solar pool heaters are simple technologies that require little maintenance and are cost effective. A typical solar pool heaters costs $3,000 and $4,000, and will pay for itself within two to seven years.

There’s no need for a storage tank since the pool provides storage. The pool’s existing pump circulates the water between the pool and the collector. The collector size needs to be 50% to 100% of the pool’s surface area (the larger the collector, the longer you’ll be able to extend the swimming season), but the collectors are more streamlined and unobtrusive than the solar collectors used for household hot water. In cold climates, the collector is usually drained for the winter so that water in it doesn’t freeze.

You can also get a solar hot water system designed for use with a hot tub. As with a solar pool heater, the hot tub’s pump circulates water between the hot tub and the collector. When the water in the tub reaches the desired temperature, the pump turns off. Solar hot tub heaters can be ground-mounted or roof-mounted.

Related Products & Services

• Water conservation
• Showers and faucets
• Toilets
• Water heaters – conventional

What do you do with the water that remains after a long, hot bath? Send it down the drain, most likely. Before you pull the plug in your bathtub, consider reclaiming the sudsy but still valuable H2O to water your lawn. Sound strange? It’s not. Millions of Americans are reusing their “grey water” everyday to water their landscape, saving gallons of H20 and pocketfuls of money.

Amidst severe drought, California recently made some changes to its grey water laws so that more citizens can partake in this eco-friendly practice. Californians can now install simple greywater reuse systems without buying a construction permit or paying installation fees which should dramatically increase the number of of grey water recyclers. In California alone, an estimated 1.7 million water-reuse systems are installed, most of which were technically illegal because homeowners avoided paying permit fees. With the passage of California Assembly Bill 313 these consumers most likely would now be legal.

What exactly is graywater?

Grey water is untreated H20 from your house that has not been in contact with toilet waste, like used water from baths, showers, bathroom sinks, and washing machines. Grey water does not include that from kitchen sinks, toilets, and dishwashers. This is called blackwater, which needs to have a separate plumbing system due to high bacterial content which is unsuitable for irrigation.

Why is it so important for you and water conservation?

According to California state officials, an average home produces 160 gallons of grey water per day, or 60,000 gallons per year, most of which is not reused; however, if a family of four reused graywater from washing machines, they could save 22,000 gallons of water a year. By reusing greywater to irrigate landscaping and to fill toilets, you can conserve water, and reduce your water and sewer bills. About 60% of your home’s water outflow is graywater which you can reuse, even during droughts when outdoor water may be limited. Graywater is used for landscape irrigation which can keep your lawn looking pristine, adding value to your home.

How to get started

To reuse grey water, your home first needs a special system that separates grey water from blackwater. Before California’s graywater laws were revised, a construction permit was required to install even a simple system, however, the urgency of California’s water situation eliminated this requirement and, along with it, permit fees. Simple graywater-reuse systems are used to collect water from a single drain attached to a washing machine, showers, or other acceptable sources. Homemade systems can cost as little as $200 while still being effective. If you want to install a system yourself without the help of a landscape contractor, keep these tips in mind.

1.  A typical graywater system consists of the following:

• A three-way diverter valve (as pictured) which diverts water to a sewer or irrigation system.
• A treatment facility such as a sand filter, and a bilge pump to keep your water clean.
• A holding tank which cools the water and temporarily keeps it from the drain hose
• An irrigation system.

2.  You must determine if you have enough land to install a system. State guidelines state that there must be minimal to no contact between homeowners and grey water, which requires the area of water released to be covered with at least 2 inches of rock or mulch. Generally, if your home is located on a lot of a quarter acre or larger, with some buffer space between you and your neighbors and/or a yard, you should have a good chance of meeting the specs

3.  Your system must release water to an irrigation field or a sewer.

4.  You cannot use your grey water system to nourish root vegetables like carrots and turnips.

5.  After designing your grey water system, you must submit the design plan for review and approval by building inspectors adhering to proper standards.

6.  After approval, you can install your system. Upon completion, it must be checked by an inspector.

For more information about

…Installing a grey water-reuse system

…Newly Revised grey water laws

Seventy-five percent of the Earth is covered with water but only 1% of that is available for human use. Water supplies are finite–there’s the same amount of water on the planet now as there was 2 billion years ago. But demand for freshwater keeps climbing as human population soars.

Freshwater shortages are already an urgent problem in many parts of the world, including the western United States. But it’s not just westerners who are worried about where tomorrow’s water is going to come from. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that water managers in 36 states expect water shortages in the next 10 years, even under normal, non-drought conditions.

In the face of a global challenge like this, what difference can a little screw-on faucet aerator make? More than you might think. Faucets account for more than 15% of a typical household’s indoor water use and showers 17%. That adds up to more than 2.2 trillion gallons of water in the United States every year. Cutting that by 40% would save 880 billion gallons of water. Every year.

Watch this video from GoGreenTube to learn how to install a low-flow aerator!

Top Tips

At home

• Turn off the tap. Don’t let the faucet run when brushing your teeth, shaving, or answering the door. Turning it off while you’re brushing your teeth can save as much as 3,000 gallons of water per year.
• Don’t be a drip. Repair leaky faucets. If you ignore the problem you can easily waste 3 gallons a day–or 1,095 gallons a year.

• Measure your flow. Faucet and showerhead flow rates are measured in gallons per minute, or gpm. Some fixtures have the gpm marked on the faucet spout or showerhead. If yours doesn’t, here’s how you can measure it. You’ll need a bucket that holds at least a gallon (and has the gallon level marked on it) and a stopwatch or watch with a second hand. Turn the tap or showerhead all the way on, and see how long it takes to get a gallon. Divide the number of seconds into 60 and you have your gpm. (So if it takes 20 seconds, the fixture has a flow rate of 3 gpm). Today’s high-efficiency faucets, faucet accessories, and showerheads provide 1.5 gpm or less, reducing water use by 40% or more while providing excellent performance. If you don’t like your old low-flow showerhead, check out today’s improved products.
• Install. It’s easy to install a new showerhead. Unscrew the old one, pull away the plumbing tape, wrap on new plumbing tape (it helps provide a tight seal), and screw on the new showerhead. Ta-da!

When shopping, look for

• WaterSense products. WaterSense is similar to the government’s Energy Star program, except it covers water instead of energy. Products with the WaterSense label have been independently tested to make sure they meet the program’s criteria for high efficiency and high performance. It’s a new program, so right now it covers only bathroom faucets, bathroom faucet aerators, and high-efficiency toilets. Look for showerheads and kitchen faucets to be included before long. WaterSense-labeled bathroom faucets and aerators (little devices that screw onto the tip of the faucet to reduce flow) use no more than 1.5 gallons per minute, and some use only 0.5 to 1.0 gpm. If you don’t need to replace your old faucet, just get an aerator. They cost only a few dollars and screw right onto the tip of the faucet’s spout.
• A store that aims to please. Not all showerheads are created equal, so buy from a store with a good return policy in case you want to exchange it for a different brand.

Other Considerations

• Low flow is the law of the land. Since 1994, federal regulations have required that new showerheads and kitchen and bathroom faucets have a maximum flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute. But millions of older homes still have water guzzling fixtures, and even if your fixtures meet the 2.5 gpm standard, you can do much better.
• You don’t have to spend a lot to get a good faucet. Consumer Reports tested 16 brands ranging in price from $80 to $600 and found little difference in performance or durability.
• Manufacturers use two different technologies to reduce flow: aeration and laminar flow. They can provide the same water savings. Aerators restrict flow but add air to the stream of water to beef it up. Not everyone likes the feel of aerated water or the way it can splash in the sink. Laminar flow fixtures and screw-on tips don’t add air. Instead they produce dozens of parallel streams of water that come out in a wide, solid-looking stream. It flows silently and doesn’t splash when it hits the sink.
• Tired of waiting for the hot water to reach you? If you live in a large home where the fixtures are far from the heater, a demand-controlled hot water circulation pump may solve your problem. When you want hot water at a faucet, shower or bath, you push a button next to the fixture. The button activates a small pump that delivers it fast. The cool H20 that’s been sitting in the pipe gets rerouted back to the water heater instead of going down the drain. Don’t confuse a demand-controlled circulation pump with a continuous circulation system.Continuous circulation systems waste a lot of water heating energy because they constantly circulate hot water through your home’s pipes. Demand-controlled systems deliver hot water only when you need it.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
Using less H20 reduces your water and water heating costs. Replacing an old showerhead with a high-efficiency model can pay for itself in a few months due to lower heating energy and water costs. A 1.5 gpm showerhead costs no more than a 2.5 gpm model and will save $300 to $500 in reduced energy and resource costs over its lifetime.

…to the Earth
Efficient faucets and showerheads help preserve the nation’s H20 resources and reduce demand on aging municipal water supply and treatment systems.

Common Mistakes

• Shower towers. Showers with multiple heads and body nozzles circumvent the federal mandate of no more than 2.5 gpm per fixture. Some of these “shower towers” use a whopping 20 gpm–so much volume that your water heater might have a hard time keeping up with it. (If you have a septic system, that could be overwhelmed too.) Unless you have a greywater system and are using the shower wastewater to irrigate your garden, leave the shower tower in your fantasy house.
• Look, Ma, no hands! Faucets that come on automatically when you put your hands under them may seem like a water saver. But Environmental Building News, which reports on the green building industry, says these motion-sensing faucets often increase resource use because they remain on longer than needed. They may also turn on inappropriately, for instance, when you put a dirty dish in the sink but aren’t ready to wash it. If you don’t want to touch the handle when using your sinks, have foot-pedal or knee-operated controls installed.

Getting Started

Recycle old faucets and metal showerheads rather than giving them away. It’s best not to keep wasteful fixtures in circulation.

Related Products & Services

• Conservation
• Toilets
• Water heaters – conventional
• Water heaters – solar

Get out the lead, and more

Most drinking water in the United States tastes good and is good for you. But some people don’t like the way their tap tastes. And others have reason to believe it is contaminated with lead, pesticides, fluoride, arsenic, or other unsavory substances.

If you drink bottled water because you’re concerned about quality or taste, switching to home water filters is usually easier on your wallet and on the planet (52 billion plastic bottles and jugs wind up in U.S. landfills and incinerators each year). Many of today’s water filters are easy to use and inexpensive. If you plan to use a water filter, here’s what you need to know.

Top Tips

At home

• Improve the taste. If you don’t like the taste of your tap, a simple activated carbon water filter (either a carafe water filter or a device installed on or near the faucet) will likely improve it. An even simpler way to eliminate the chlorine taste is to let a uncovered pitcher of H20 sit in the refrigerator overnight. The chlorine will be gone by morning.
• Investigate contaminants.Because different water filters remove different kinds of contaminants, you first need to find out what’s likely to be in your tap. Some substances, like arsenic, radium, and radon, occur naturally in the water in some areas. Others, like pesticides or nitrates from fertilizer and animal waste, make their way into H20 supplies from agricultural or industrial activities. Call your water company or read its annual H20 quality report, which must be sent to customers every year. The report will list recent quality violations and disclose which contaminants may be a problem in your area.If you’re among the 15% of Americans who rely on well water, the U.S. EPA recommends you have it tested annually for impurities such as coliform bacteria and nitrates. Ask your local or state health department for a list of state-certified testing labs. If you don’t want to have it tested, at least ask your health department about the types of contaminants likely to affect local well water.
• Choose a water filter–or not. After reading the municipal quality report or having your well water tested, you might decide you don’t need a filter. But if there are tastes or specific contaminants you’re concerned about, here are your choices:
  • Carafe filter.These pitchers have disposable filters. Most use granules of activated (positively charged) carbon to attract and trap contaminants. Cost: $15 to $25.
    • Improves taste. Reduces chlorine (some models also reduce chloramine, a disinfectant used by some agencies instead of chlorine). Some models reduce lead, pesticides, or other contaminants; check label. Filter needs regular replacement. Convenient if you don’t drink a lot of H20 and don’t want filtered H20 for cooking.
  • Faucet, showerhead, refrigerator, countertop, and under-sink filters. Most use blocks of activated carbon to attract and trap contaminants. Some use fabrics, ceramic screening, or fiber as the filter. Cost: $20 to $500.
    • Improves taste. Reduces chlorine (some models also reduce chloramine). Some models reduce lead and other heavy metals, parasites, VOCs, pesticides, radon, or other contaminants; check label. Filter needs regular replacement. More economical than carafe filters if you drink a lot from the tap or want to use filtered H20 for cooking.
  • Reverse osmosis.Uses pressure to force H20 through a semi-permeable membrane, leaving behind contaminants. Cost: $150 to $900.
    • Improves taste. Kills bacteria and viruses. Removes lead and other heavy metals, nitrates, certain parasites, and many chemical contaminants (such as pesticides and petrochemicals); check label. Installed under sink. Filters require periodic replacement. Delivers H20 very slowly. Wastes three to five gallons for each gallon produced (because there’s “reject water” that carries the concentrated contaminants, and is typically plumbed to the sink’s drainage pipe).
  • Distiller. Boils H20 and collects the recondensed, purified water vapor. Cost: $100 to $2,000.
    • Kills bacteria and viruses. Removes lead, and other heavy metals, nitrates, radium and most chemical contaminants; may not remove some gases such as VOCs or radon; check label. Low-capacity distillers sit on the countertop. High-capacity devices are large freestanding units. Delivers H20 very slowly. Uses a lot of electricity. Removes natural minerals; may taste flat.
  • Water softener.Reduces hardness by replacing calcium or magnesium ions with potassium or sodium ions. Cost: $400 to $1,600.
    • Reduces scale (calcium and magnesium mineral deposits) on plumbing fixtures and pipes and makes lathering up easier. Removes radium and barium. Installed as a whole house system. Filtration medium must be periodically regenerated with salt or potassium chloride; regeneration process wastes H20.
  • Ultraviolet disinfection.UV light disinfects H20, reducing microorganisms. Cost: $70 to $800.
    • Kills bacteria and viruses. Installed under sink or as whole house treatment, often combined with a carbon filter. Uses electricity (a 40- to 100-watt ultraviolet lamp remains on continuously).

When shopping, look for

• Certification. Make sure the H20 treatment product you buy has certification from NSF (formerly the National Sanitation Foundation) International, Underwriters Laboratories, or the Water Quality Association. (An EPA registration number is not a performance certification; it merely means the product is registered as a device that contains antimicrobial agents.)

Other Considerations

• Maintenance. All treatment devices need regular maintenance to work properly. Follow the manufacturer’s directions. With some systems, failing to replace filters or follow maintenance procedures can lead to the buildup of bacteria or other contaminants on the filter. With some systems, the yearly cost to replace filters can be two to three times the initial cost of the device.
• Whole house or point of use? Whole house treatment systems are installed where the main water line enters the home, so all the water gets treated, not just your drinking water. That’s a plus if you’re trying to eliminate scaling or staining problems. But if it’s just drinking water you’re concerned about, a point-of-use filter at the kitchen sink will meet your needs. Point-of-use filters come in a variety of configurations, depending on the type of filtration system: some require no plumbing and screw right onto the faucet or sit on the countertop; others go under the sink and require some basic plumbing work.
• Lead pipes. H20 that’s free of contaminants when it gets to a house can pick up lead from certain types of old pipes. Some house built before World War II still have their original lead-based water pipes. These should be replaced. Copper pipes installed before 1988 may have lead-based solder that can leach into the water. Have a plumber inspect the joints, or have the water tested for lead, especially if there are children in your household. Children are particularly susceptible to brain and nervous system damage from lead poisoning. If lead turns up in the tests, you can install filters certified to remove lead (or replace the pipes, but that can be pricey). Here’s an alternative that doesn’t cost anything: If the tap hasn’t been turned on for a few hours, run it for three minutes to clear out any water that may have picked up lead. Lead is more likely to leach into hot water than cold, so if you know there is lead in your pipes, never use water from the hot tap for cooking or drinking.
• Emergency treatment. If a natural disaster such as a flood contaminates municipal water supplies or your well water, boil the water for a full minute to kill microbes (three minutes if you live at a high altitude). Store the water in a clean, covered container.

Benefits…

…to you and your health
If your water has an off-taste, a basic carbon filter will usually improve it. If you’re worried about specific contaminants, a filter or other treatment device can deliver healthier water–provided you install the right filter for that particular contaminant.

…to your wallet
In most cases, a home filtration system will be cheaper than bottled water. Initial costs range from $20 carafes to systems that cost thousands of dollars.

…to the environment
Switching from drinking bottled water to home-filtered water reduces the number of petroleum-based bottles that need to be manufactured, the amount of plastic waste that winds up in landfills and incinerators, and the fuel expended in delivering bottled water to homes.

Common Mistakes

Buying bottled water. Many studies have shown that bottled water isn’t necessarily any healthier than tap water. In fact, the bottled water industry is less regulated than municipal water supplies. More than a fourth of bottled water brands are merely repackaged municipal drinking water. And tests have come up with a number of brands contaminated with bacteria, arsenic, and other potential hazards.

Getting Started

• Faucet-mounted filters take only a few seconds to screw onto the faucet. Under-sink filters are fairly easy to install, although a reverse-osmosis filter takes a bit more effort because it needs to be hooked up to the sink’s drain to discharge wastewater. A whole-house filter may take a few hours to install and typically involves cutting into the water supply line, but won’t be hard for a handy DIYer.
• Alternatively, you can buy a system and have a plumber install it, or purchase a filtration system from the plumber.
• For general advice on what questions to ask contractors and other tradespeople, see our “What to Ask Your Contractor” article.
• For more details on specific filters, use the online NSF guide.

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