Environmental awareness starts at your very own doorstep – the attitude you have towards eco-friendliness in your home is the one that you’re going to take outside. One of the pillars of the green mentality is saving water, and saving water starts at the bathroom – a room where multiple elements use it for a variety of purposes. Enter the world of environmental consciousness from the bathroom.
Motion sensor faucets
Motion sensor faucets can usually be found at restaurants, shopping malls, airports, various hotel facilities, etc. One of the main ideas here is helping people avoid hand-to-hand contact with less than hygienic environments. However, even more importantly, these faucets save a ton of water on average. We’re talking about all the water wasted while applying soap to your hands, especially while brushing your teeth. Wasting water through continuous flow is made almost impossible with motion sensor faucets, which are not only great for water-saving, but for preventing the germs from spreading as well.
Shower flow
Hot, lengthy, steamy showers are pretty much as awesome as those little things in life we can get – they provide stress relief, relax our muscles, level our body temperature and are, generally, extremely enjoyable. But, a hot shower is also a huge water and energy waster. If going for a quick wash isn’t really your thing and you want all the benefits of a long, steamy shower, but without the detriments, installing a low-flow shower head might just do the trick. It’s going to take some getting used to, but after a couple of weeks you won’t even notice it. By curbing your shower flow, you are not only saving water, but cutting back on energy used for heating the water up. Saving water and your money; what better way to embrace eco-friendliness than by actually paying tribute to your pocket?
Toilet flow
The typical toilets waste up to as much as 7 gallons of water per flush. Low-flow toilets are the name of the game here and if you’re worried about weak flow, you can just flush twice; it’s still going to save you a couple of gallons. Now, another problem with toilets is clogging. In fact, in Canberra, Australia, this problem is so common that hardly a year passes by without a homeowner experiencing it. This can cause water to start overflowing, which means gallon after gallon wasted. It’s even become a regular thing to have an emergency Canberra plumber on the speed dial. Dual-flush toilets are also an excellent choice – one button for number one, the other one for number two; this saves a ton of water.
Ventilation system
Sure, the bathroom ventilation fans are used no more than a couple of times a day, but sometimes they end up working for extended periods of time. Although this isn’t really the green’s biggest enemy in the bathroom, replacing the regular fan with an energy efficient one can actually trim your energy spending by 60%! Awesome for the environment and for your pocket, quality ventilation systems can be true life savers: if you keep them on for 15 minutes after taking a steaming shower, you can avoid potential mold issues caused by moisture, so getting ENERGY STAR-rated ventilation system is really important here.
Bath products
Finally, the bathroom items such as hand soap, toilet paper, bath towels, etc. are best bought from green-certified vendors. In this way, you are supporting the green cause. The variety of petrochemicals that are often used in bathrooms are actually damaging to both the environment and yourself! Eco-friendly and sustainable product from small businesses should definitely make your list – feel free to dig around for some cool startups that are green-certified. You need to get yourself into the mentality of actually regretting wasting water, because we really should be feeling this. Motion sensor faucets and low-flow showers and toilets will help us achieve this, but opting for an eco-friendly ventilation system and organic bathroom products actually protects you, in addition to your environment. Save water, save energy, save our planet!
Guest post by Tracey Clayton
About the Author
Tracey Clayton is a full time mom of three girls. She's passionate about fashion, home décor and healthy living. Her motto is: “Live the life you love, love the life you live.”
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