Save Water While Waiting For It To Warm
A common practice by many households is to turn on their shower water until it gets to a temperature they feel is appropriately for showering in. So that means that on top of using large amounts of water just taking a shower, that we also waste tons of water by simply preparing the shower for us to use.
Why does it take so long?
There are three main reasons why it takes longer to get warm water in certain households:
- Distance of Water Heater: This reason makes complete sense as the farther the water heater is from a faucet, the longer warm water will take to reach it.
- Diameter of Pipes: Smaller pipes mean that less water has to flow to faucets. This means that less water has to be heated and therefore it will arrive much faster.
- Flow Rate: Since less water is delivered using low-flow showerheads and faucets, more cold water is sitting in the pipes. This cold water will take longer to flush out before warm water can arrive.
The latest trend in household construction is to make larger pipes and to use lower flow rate faucets and showerheads. This combination delivers hot water the slowest. In some situations, it can take as long as a few minutes.
Solutions
There are ways to combat this huge problem that many of us face beyond just continuing to allow water to be wasted. Here are some great ways to avoid this extra waste of water.
Take Cold Shower
Instead of waiting for warm water, why not take a cold shower? A cold shower is much healthier for your health. It does not dry your skin like hot water can and helps provide better circulation. Just off of that alone it’s worth taking a cold shower, but it also provides water energy savings as well. Since the water doesn’t require to be heated or heated far less, it will require much less energy use by your home’s water heater. It can also help reduce the time we spend taking a shower because we are not waiting for water to be warmed.
Be sure to check out my shower calculator to determine exactly how much water and energy you can save by taking cold showers.
Save the Water
Why does perfectly usable water have to go to waste? Instead of just letting it go down the drain, save the water in a bucket and use it for other things. A great way that this water can be used to flush our toilets. Pouring water in a toilet simulates the action of flushing a toilet without having to waste more water. It could also be used to put in our washing machines or on various applications in the kitchen.
Fixing the Problem
The true way to actually fix this problem is to get a circulator system for your home. The idea behind a system like this is that it pulls the cold water out of the pipes and uses hot water in a different location in your house for the shower. This system allows for hot water to reach its destination much more quickly and not allow the cold water to go to waste. As you can imagine, a system like this can be rather expensive to buy and install. Advanced Conservation Technologies makes the one of these circulating systems called the D’Mand system, which costs approximately $350-500 that doesn’t include installation. If the expense for a system like this is too much, the above alternatives are probably best for you.
California Passes TV Energy Efficiency Standards
Just last week, California passed a set of energy efficiency standards that would improve how energy efficient televisions are. The hope of this new regulation is to ensure that the energy consumption of televisions is reduced 49 percent by the year 2013.
With the prices of televisions going down, more and more people are buying bigger televisions that consumer more energy even though they are slightly more energy efficient than their predecessors. In California, approximately 10% of average home’s electricity consumption comes from televisions. The hope of this legislation is to of course reduce energy consumption, but as save consumers and estimated $1 billion per year.
This goal will not be too difficult to reach as the technology to reduce energy consumption in televisions is already available. As many as 300 televisions on the market meet the standards set by this regulation.
One big issue with this regulation is that it only covers televisions up to 58″. That leaves a huge loophole for televisions that consume the most amount of energy. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense why this was left out, but with televisions getting larger and larger, many televisions could be excluded from this regulation just because of their size.
I think a better way to cut back on energy consumption is to watch less television and not purchase such massive televisions. We do not need to be watching television more hours of the day just because we have larger televisions that display higher quality. Also, not every home needs a 50″ or 60″ tv just because they are more cost effective than in the past. This is like a lot of appliances in our households . We have improved technology and have reduced energy consumption, but actually use more now since we increased their size so much.
It’s good to see California trying to reduce energy consumption with this regulation, but we need to be more practical when it comes to televisions.
Green Up Thanksgiving This Year
Thanksgiving, as with other holidays, does not bring the “green” out in most people. We go crazy over shopping deals and stuff ourselves excessively with food. Try to make this Thanksgiving a little different by following these eco-friendly tips.
Green Up Black Friday
Black Friday is a notorious day in which everybody goes nuts just to save a little extra cash. There are ways that you can still Save on Black Friday, without having to be so harmful to the environment. Instead of driving your car all over town, try shopping online or only go to the stores closest to your house. You can also prevent your car from idling like so many people tend to do while waiting in line. It’s also worth considering just buying less stuff or following the international campaign called Buy Nothing Day in which you skip this heavily marketed day and as the name says, buy nothing. Both can not only help lesson our environmental impact, but save us cash since we are spending less of it on stuff we may not need.
Eat Less
Such an easy way to go a little more green and something that we all seem to forget is to simply eat less. It can be difficult to eat less food if you make way too much food to begin with. Unless you plan on making future meals, keep this meal modest as with every meal. Not only is it healthier, but less food=less money.
Go Local
Thanksgiving is just like any other day and we treat it as such. It’s beginning to get late in the season, but you can still find great produce and meats at some of our local farms. Try making as much of your Thanksgiving meal from things that are still available locally like corn, sweet potatoes, green beans, apples and many more great items. If you are in the market for a fresh turkey or ham, don’t settle for the meats shipped across the country. I wrote previously about getting a local turkey on Thanksgiving. It’s a great way to get fresh meat at comparable prices to what you would find in grocery stores.
Buy Organic
Another great option is to buy organic foods for your thanksgiving meal. It may not always be cheaper to have an Organic Thanksgiving, but you can ensure that you are eating more naturally. The best option would be to buy organic produce or meats that are as local as possible.
No Meat
Who ever said that you have to have a turkey or ham during the holidays? A great way to not only eat a healthier meal, but also be much more environmentally friendly is to go meatless. There are many great alternatives including tofu turkeys and simply just having all the sides you would normally eat, but just cut out the meat. Another great option may be to cut back on meat. If your family is really small, do you really need a 20 lb. turkey? Instead of getting a massive turkey or ham, why not get a portion that is more appropriate.
Share Your Ideas
Please share any great ideas you have to make this Thanksgiving a much more green one.
Natural Cold and Flu Remedies
Getting a cold or flu are not some of most pleasant experiences to have to deal with. Especially during this time of year, ads are all over the place about how their product can eliminate your running nose, congestion, coughing or sore throat. What these same ads don’t tell you is that these products don’t always work that well and contain tons of ingredients our bodies don’t need to help reduce the symptoms and recover quickly. That’s why I recommend trying some natural cold and flu remedies to help bring you relief the natural way.
Neti Pot
We always associate someone blowing their nose or sniffling as a sign that a person is sick. It’s also extremely annoying to have nasal congestion or a running nose. One of the easiest and most effective way to help clear our your nasal passage ways is to use a neti pot. All it requires is a pour a salt water mixture through each nostril. Not only have I found it effective all year round, but especially when trying to fight a cold or flu. I have noticed a drastic reduction in the amount of colds and time in which a cold remains. The key is that a neti pot keeps your sinuses clear and helps provide better drainage. This can really really help prevent and reduce the severity of a sore throat. I recommend using the neti pot at least once a day on a regular basis to prevent colds and at least twice if you do actually have a cold.
Herbs
There are many popular herbs available that can help prevent, fight off and reduce the symptoms of a cold. Let’s go through some of my favorites.
Echinacea
One of the best herbal remedies I have found to help prevent and fight off colds is echinacea. It works by helping your body produce more white blood cells to better fight off infections. The best time to take echinacea is when you first begin to see the signs. I recommend buying echinacea from your local natural goods store and sticking with organic.
Thyme
I just recently found out that Thyme is an extremely effective herb in helping fight off both chest and nasal congestion.
If you grind up dry thyme and inhale the powder through your nose, it can help relieve your nasal congestion. It feels a little weird to inhale this mixture, but it really does work.
In order to relieve congestion, boil thyme, preferably fresh, for 4-5 minutes. Drinking this mixture can really help reduce coughs and help relieve congestion in your chest.
Ginger
Ginger is not necessarily a herb, but extremely effective at providing relief for colds. One of my favorite things is to drink a ginger tea that my finacee makes. All you do to make it is boil a few pieces of ginger for 10-15 minutes or once you begin to really get a strong ginger smell. For a little sweetness, add a little brown sugar and boil for a few more minutes. Take out the ginger pieces and drink while still hot. This tea provides great relief, especially for congestion.
Box Teas
It’s great to make you own tea as it can be much more inexpensive, but you can always buy a quality natural/organic tea to help fight off a cold. There are great cold teas that have some of the herbs above and more to really help fight off colds.
Water Vapor
Did you ever wonder why when you go into a hot shower while sick that you feel so much better. The water vapor really helps clear up nasal and chest congestion. A shower is not the only way to get this same relief. You can instead try boiling some water and breathe in the vapors to get the same effect.
Keep Warm
One of the most often overlooked ways to easily fight off a cold is to keep warm. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to crank up your heat. Just keep yourself warmly clothed in several thin layers and in bed as long as you can. The easier it will be for your body to fight off that cold the warmer you stay, especially at night.
Stay Rested
With our busy lives, it can be hard to stay in bed and get plenty of rest. Sleep is often one of the most neglected things in our lives. Not getting enough sleep may only extend the length of a cold or flu.
Hopefully by following the above methods not only when you get a cold/flu, but on a regular basis, you can prevent getting sick this winter. Please share any natural remedies you have.
Natura World Giveaway Winner!!!
I want to first thank Natura for providing this great latex pillow and to all of my readers who participated in this contest. The winner of the contest is Beth and she wanted the pillow because:
I hate my current, conventional pillow…no support! Would love to try the Ultimate Pillow!
If you didn’t already get to, be sure to check out Naturaworld.com for all their great all natural bedding products including mattresses, pillows and more. Also, be sure to also sign up for my RSS Feed or email subscription to get all of my latest posts and upcoming contests I will be holding. Thanks again to everybody and congratulations to Beth.
Seventh Generation’s Million Baby Crawl
Seventh Generation is taking action with their Million Baby Crawl to ensure that toxic chemicals found in many of our household products are better regulated.
There current Toxic Substances Control Act that should be protecting us from harmful chemicals, is outdated and not effective like it should be. Since the 1970’s, the EPA has only required safety testing on 200 of the over 80,000 chemicals found in common household products many of us use.
The new Kid Safe Chemical can help strengthen this previous legislation and make sure that all chemicals found within products we use are safe. This means safe for everybody, including our children and pregnant women.
Dr. Greene, notable pediatrician and author of several popular green health books for children, speaks about legislation and what we can do to keep our families safe:
Who knows the effect that many of these chemicals are doing to our families and in particular our children. That’s why it’s great that Seventh Generation is taking action to make sure that this bill gets passed to protect our children from all of these chemicals.
So what can you do to make sure this bill gets passed?
You can join Seventh Generation in their Million Baby Crawl to make sure this bill does in fact get passed. This doesn’t mean you have to march down to Washington DC either. Their site provides a way you can contact your local representative so that they know the importance of passing this legislation. There are also events being held in several major cities throughout America to get the word out.
There are also things that you can do to make sure that you are not exposing dangerous chemicals to your family just as Dr. Greene said. We can begin using safe products in our households including products from Seventh Generation and EcoMist or try making homemade cleaners. By simply using more natural products, especially cleaning products, we can reduce our families’ exposure harmful chemicals.
Good Luck to Seventh Generation and hopefully the Million Baby Crawl is successful in making our households safer.
WILD’s 9th World Wide Congress
The World Wide Congress (WWC) began it’s 9th session this past Monday, November 6th and will be held until this Friday, November 13th. Wild9 will feature topic of this event will be the impact that climate change has on the environment and the quality of life of us as humans.
History Of World Wide Congress
A partnership between The WILD Foundation and Unidos para la Conservación formedthe World Wide Congress over 30 years ago. The WWC has became one of the longest running environmental forums, taking on various important environmental issues. Participants come from every sector, including the government, private sector and academia.
Wild 9 Highlights
One of the major highlights of the congress already is the announcement of an International Cooperation between the Mexico, the US and Canada. Mexico President Calderon made this announcement at the opening of congress, which was already signed by all three countries. President Calderon said:
Today it gives me great pleasure to announce that, within the framework of this 9th World Wilderness Congress, Mexico, Canada and the United States will be formalizing an important Cooperation Plan for Wilderness Conservation. This Agreement will make it easier to exchange successful experiences, and facilitate monitoring and the training of human resources, as well as financing projects that will protect and recover wilderness areas.
Be sure to check out the live stream of the event as well as the latest blog articles and tweets.
