Brave New Leaf

The Water Audit, Part II: What is using our water?

I figured it was high time I do a more thorough water audit of our household. With the water supply in the Pacific Northwest guaranteed for the next fifty years, I've been a bit lazy about this. But understanding the world's present water crises, and how much worse it's expected to get, conserving water is still a good idea.

From a previous water audit where I inspected my bill, I generally know how much water we use per month, but I have no idea what exactly is contributing to that total.

This water audit was extremely easy, and didn't take long at all to do, maybe 10 minutes in total, spread out across a few hours.

I set out to measure the following:

• The shower vs. bath debate. My husband showers, I bathe. Who is ultimately being more efficient with our water?
• How much water do our various sinks pump out per minute?
• Toilet water usage per flush?
• How much water do our major appliances use (washing machine, dishwasher)?

In order to complete the water audit, you'll need the following:

• A large container of known size. A gallon milk jug would be perfect. I used a large measuring cup with a two quart (half gallon) measure.
• A portable timer or stopwatch of some sort. I used my iPod's stopwatch function.
• Figure out where your water meter is. You'll need access to be able to note the various readings.

1. Measuring the sinks

In our condo, we only have two different types of faucets: the kitchen sink, and the bathroom sinks. To measure the flow rate of each, I put the 2 quart container in the sink, and then flipped my timer on as I turned the water off. Once it hit 2 quarts, I stopped the timer. From this, I could calculate gallons of water per minute that our faucets generate.

• Our kitchen sink hit 2 quarts exactly at the 15 second mark, meaning it's a 2 gallon per minute faucet.
  Our bathroom sinks hit 2 quarts at exactly 20 seconds, meaning they are 1.5 gallon per minute faucets.

These are both pretty efficient faucets, and already have aerators installed in them to put more air in the flow. The bathroom sinks could probably get a little more efficient. We'll discuss this in a later project.

2. Measuring the toilets
We have two identical toilets in our apartment. If you have multiple toilets, you'll want to test each one out. All you need to do is note the reading on your water meter. Then flush the toilet. Note it again, and take the difference to get a "gallons per flush" reading.

Our toilets used somewhere between 1.8-1.9 gallons per flush. I was a bit surprised by this since all toilets installed after 1982 are supposed to be 1.6 gallon low-flow toilets. Ours are not quite as efficient as they should be. Perhaps an opportunity for optimization.

3. Showering vs. bathing
I am a religious bather. My husband hates baths, and only takes showers. Who is more efficient?

Measuring this is just like the toilets: make sure nobody runs the water during that morning's showers and baths, and note the water readings on the meter. I also timed the shower independently to get a gallons per minute reading.

Filling my tub to the level I like it used 33.3 gallons of water. That's quite a lot of water. Dang, I think I might lose this one.

Contrast that with my husband's shower which only used 2.1 gallons of water a minute. Now, unfortunately he takes 15 minute showers. So that brings his water usage up to 31.5 gallons. But I can see how a shower might ultimately win out against the bath. Something for me to contemplate. And in the meantime, don't tell my husband, ok?

To put this water usage in perspective, in many developing nations, that one shower or bath would constitute their water usage for three full months.

4. Water use by dishwasher and washing machine
This took the longest to measure, simply because I had to wait until I had full loads to run the machines. Measurement goes just the same - note the meter before and after. Do try to make sure no other water is running at the time you are measuring.

• Dishwasher (on energy saver setting): 6 gallons
• Washing machine on high - 35.9 gallons
• Washing machine on medium - 30.6 gallons
• Washing machine on low - 24.9 gallons

The most interesting thing about this experiment was that I washed full loads in my washing machine each time, with the low-med-high water setting set differently each time. There was no noticeable difference in the cleanliness or dampness of my clothes from the low to the high setting. Maybe even my full loads should be washed on "low". I'm not certain if I risk damaging the machine though here. More research is needed.

Again, I'm impressed with how efficient my dishwasher is. Filling my kitchen sink just once uses ten gallons of water. Dishwashers really are pretty environmentally conscious.

I'm queuing up a bunch of water projects as the result of this audit. If you have some ideas, please suggest them!

Water Project: How to check your toilet for leaks

With our water supply secure until 2050 in the Pacific Northwest, we don't focus on water saving projects as much as we ought to. Fact is, a global water crisis is looming, and even those of us swimming in H2O riches need to consider conservation a priority.

Toilet leaks can be one of the most wasteful sources of water in a home. A bad toilet leak could cycle through 300 gallons of water a day, whereas more subtle toilet leaks might just go through 5-10. We should all get in the habit of checking our toilets for leaks 2-3x/year.

It's incredibly easy, and kind of fun. Here's how:

1. Get some food coloring
Any color will do. I chose red and green for our two toilets because blue water isn't very exciting and yellow water...well...you can guess the rest.

2. Put 4-6 drops of food coloring in the tank
Open the thing on the backside and drop 4-6 drops of food coloring in that water. Don't worry, it won't stain the bowl or anything.

For some reason, one of my toilet tanks had the stillest water you could possibly imagine. The red food coloring just hung there in a cloud, not dispersing in the least after several minutes. It was a little bit creepy.

3. Wait
Wait 10-15 minutes. Don't flush! Once the time is up, peek into the bowl. Water still clear? No leak. Water have some color in it? Uh-oh, you have a leak.

I had no leaks. Yay.

4. Enjoy flushing the next 2-3 times
The next 2-3 times you flush, your toilet bowl water will be a purty color.

5. Have a leak? Fix it
If you have a leak, get it fixed ASAP as most toilet leaks get worse with time. The problem could be a lot of things: deteriorated flapper, high water level in the bowl, corroded float ball, etc. It's best to have a professional look at it.

Tap Project raises money for third world water

This week, the Tap Project invites you to pay $1 for tap water at your local restaurant. Why? This money will go to UNICEF to aid third world access to sanitary water.

For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

Several cities and hundreds of restaurants are participating in the project. In Seattle, over a hundred restaurants qualify.

Read more about the Tap Project.

The Green Economics of Tankless Water Heaters

In theory, a tankless water heater seems like a no-brainer. Why heat your water all day when you're not using it? Providing on-demand hot water is much more energy-efficient. It's the dominant water heating technology in Europe and Asia. Plus it saves tons of space in your home previously occupied by an enormous water holding tank.

With all of this in mind, I started to look into tankless hot water heaters as a possibility in my home. Unfortunately, the economics are incredibly unfavorable.

The total cost of a tankless hot water heater is about $1521. Here's how it breaks down:

• Bosch Aquastar unit: $671. Cheaper and more expensive models exist, but this is one of the most widely-used models.
• Installation: $1000. Installation estimates online varied wildly, but seemed to range from about $500-$2000. I picked a median estimate.
• Energy Company Rebate: $150. To offset the cost some, PSE offers a $150 rebate for tankless water heaters.

I use about $7 of natural gas on water heating per month. The EPA estimates that the tankless water heater will increase my water heating efficiency by about 40%. That's $2.80 saved on my monthly water heating bill.

If you calculate that out, it would take 45 years for the tankless water heater to pay back that money. The projected life of the unit is only 20 years. I'm out about $849 by the time it stops working.

It's simply not worth it. Not when I can buy a 30% more efficient tank heater for a fourth of the cost. This is one green project that sadly, I will not be implementing.

AQUS greywater kit makes heaps of sense, saves water & money

Over half of the water that a household uses everyday gets flushed down the toilet. A company called Watersaver Technologies has figured out one straightforward way to recycle water throughout the house.

All you need is your existing sink, your existing toilet, and their kit. Essentially, you install a tank under your sink that collects the water that you send down the drain. The tank cleanses the water (so yes, Spot  can still drink out of the toilet reasonably safely), and then sends the water to your toilet to supplement new water from the tap.

Tests in households show that the kit can save about 7 gallons/person/day, adding up to 5000 gallons per year in a household like mine.

I love innovations like this where you look at the design and just think "Duh! That makes perfect sense! Why aren't all homes designed like that?"

It looks like the kit is available for $289, which is a little steep for the money it saves you. That's an 8 year payback for a 2 person household. But, it's an excellent idea that hopefully will come more into the mainstream as green housing design and development enter more into the mainstream.

http://www.watersavertech.com/

All of the water in the world. All of the air in the atmosphere.

Making it's way around the nets today, it's a unique perspective on what we're fighting for.

Seattle ahead of the curve on water planning

Free toilets! In case you haven't heard yet, if you live in Seattle and make less than 60k a year, you should swing by Seattle Public Utilities and get a free water-efficient toilet. If you make under 36k, they'll install it for free too, while those in the 36-60k range will have to pay a bit for installation. Still, the toilet should save you $100/year on water and sewage bills, so it's probably worth it.

Water supply secure until 2060.  The City of Seattle has announced that despite the threat of impending climate change, Seattle residents have a secure water supply until 2060. This doesn't guarantee that there won't be drought situations and rationing, since the water sources still primarily come from snow pack, but barring unforeseen circumstances, there should be enough water to avert crisis for all Seattle Residents for the next 50 years.

Seattle joins the Water Climate Alliance. In the wake of the good news about our water, Seattle joins the seven biggest U.S. cities to help them determine their future water strategy.

Dishwashers are a greenie's dream

Dishwashers are a greenie’s dream: an appliance that works AND is more efficient than doing it the manual way. Several studies show that today’s dishwashers save energy and water overall doing your dishes by hand (not to mention time!).

But that doesn’t mean we can’t optimize its efficiency even further. Armed with some tips I pulled off the internet, I set out to make mine better. Some of it was a little trickier than I thought it would be.

Lower your hot water temperature
When I did my hot water heater audit last year, I noted that I didn’t want to lower the temperature below 120F because I wanted my dishes to be sanitized. Little did I know that most modern dishes have built-in heaters that heat the water to 140F degrees to make sure all the bacteria and mold gets burned off. So lowering my hot water temp has little to no impact on my dishwasher’s sanitary effectiveness. Cool.

Running a full load
In the “duh” category of green tips, the best way to increase dishwasher efficiency is to always run a full load. Figure out who in your family has a talent for stuffing the dishwasher the fullest. My husband is a whiz at fitting more in the dishwasher. Even when I think I’ve totally maxed it out, he’ll fiddle for a bit and magically slide four more bowls in. I think it’s all of those years playing Tetris.

I used to worry about letting dishes hang out in the sink or dishwasher with gross food stuff on them for a few days while I waited for the dishwasher to get full. Sometimes little fuzzy colonies of mold would start to emerge. However, studies show that dishwashers are remarkably efficient at sterilizing these bad boys too.

Don’t Pre-wash
I grew up washing the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. It was only after I got married that my husband observed me cleaning up one day and offered “Um, you don’t actually have to do that”. I didn’t believe him, but I tried it his way, and lo and behold – the bowls absolutely caked with marinara sauce came out perfectly clean!

Today’s dishwashers are much better at cleaning the gross grit off of your dishes. Save yourself dishwater hands and hot water by just slapping your dishes in the dishwasher. Like I was, you may be surprised at the results.

Air Dry
This suggestion makes perfect sense. Why bother using energy to dry my dishes, when I can just open the door a crack and have them dry overnight anyway? But I was completely stymied by the confusing display of options on my dishwasher. Which one was going to turn off the dry cycle? Look at these buttons – it’s not exactly clear.

I fished out my dishwasher manual which ended up being for a completely different model of dishwasher (huh?). The GE website didn't have the manual for my model. The only thing left to do is experiment.

Turns out turning off “speed dry” is the right thing to do. With this off, the dishwasher will not enter a dry cycle, saving lots of energy. Sometimes bowls or tupperwares in the top rack have a tough time getting dry, but we just let those rack dry a little longer and they’re fine. It’s a minor inconvenience.

My particular dishwasher doesn’t have an “energy saver” mode, but I’ve heard this is the most efficient way to run your dishwasher. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

The last set of things I looked into was my dishwashing detergent, but this ended up being such a complex issue, I’m going to save writing about it for tomorrow.

What steps have you taken to optimizing your dishwashing for maximum green-ficiency?

The Water Audit: Part One

I started with water because it seemed like the simplest to do, initially.  Water isn’t a particular problem up in the Pacific Northwest, but there may be upcoming water shortages worldwide if global warming hits full force, so I should understand my impact.

Luckily, my water billing provider made this really easy for me. I simply went to http://www.ista-na.com and was able to access the my full water usage history since I’ve been in this condominium.

Of course, if this hadn’t been available online, auditing my water usage would have been a fairly trivial matter of reading my meter on a semi-regular basis, and jotting down the readings.

Here is my water usage for the past three years (scale in gallons):

The spikes aren’t really indicative of usage, but of a bill they forgot to send to me, so there are two months of usage under that number.

On average, our household uses 123.74 gallons of water a day, averaging out to 3712.3 gallons a month.

How does this stack up?  Not too badly. According to a UN study, the average American household uses 153 gallons per person, per day.  We don’t have a yard to care for, so our water usage falls significantly below that, somewhere closer to the usage of Austria or Denmark.

 

That doesn’t mean we couldn’t do better.  The UK somehow has extremely low water usage, though they have similar living standards to ours.

I’m curious how our daily water usage breaks out to contribute to this number, so I’m going to start to track our daily stats.  More to come on this.