Reduce your hot water usage
Reducing the amount of hot water you use can result in significant reductions in energy usage, saving you money and further reducing your CO2 footprint. "A family of four each showering five minutes a day can use about 700 gallons per week—a three-year drinking water supply for one person! Water-conserving showerheads and faucet aerators can cut hot water use in half. That family of four can save 14,000 gallons of water a year and the energy required to heat it."
Heating hot water for a 10-minute shower can generate as much as 4 pounds of CO2. By staying in the shower for 5 minutes instead of 10 and ensuring that you have a low-flow showerhead, you can have a pleasurable shower and annually save several hundred pounds of CO2. As for baths, they can use up to twice the amount of hot water you need for a 5-minute shower.
Turning the water off when you are soaping up, shaving or brushing your teeth saves money not only by reducing the amount of water you are using, but by reducing the gas or electricity needed to heat the water. It is yet another step you can take to reduce your CO2 footprint.
Installing a low-flow showerhead can greatly reduce the amount of water, and hence CO2 produced in heating the water, you use when showering. Installing low-flow showerheads to use less hot water can provide reductions in CO2 of 350 pounds per year.
In the case of kitchen and bathroom faucets, aerators, the screw-on tips, restrict the flow rate of the faucet. Aerators are inexpensive to replace and are one of the most cost-effective water conservation measures.
- American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, found at: https://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/topwater.htm .
- David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 9 (2006).
- Environmental Defense, 20 Simple Steps to Undo Global Warming, found at: http://www.fightglobalwarming.com .
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, found at: www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=13050 .