The bathroom may be a small space, but a few changes in what you do with it and in it can add up to significant savings in energy and money.
- Open an empty, half-gallon cardboard milk carton and hold it up to the shower while it's fully on. If it fills in less than ten seconds, your shower could use an energy-efficient showerhead. You'll get the same pressure with a smaller volume of water, and you'll save energy too.
- Take showers instead of baths. A shower saves four to five gallons of water.
- Be aware of your hot water use habits. Don't let hot water run constantly while you're shaving.
- Be sure your faucets are shut off tightly, especially the hot water.
- Install a flow restrictor on your shower. This device can cut the cost of taking a hot shower in half. It generally costs less than a dollar, is easily inserted into the showerhead, and cuts the flow of water virtually in half.
- Repair leaking hot water faucets. A leak of one drop per second wastes over 250 gallons of hot water a month. It's a simple, low-cost job to do.
- Make sure that your bathrooms have good ventilation fans. This will ensure better indoor air quality and moisture control. Energy Star fans use 65 percent less energy and run quieter. Adding a programmable timer or humidistat control will help maintain ventilation without excessive energy use.
- Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth and save 1-3 gallons of water per minute.
- Fix leaky taps! A hot water tap, dripping once every second, wastes the equivalent of 16 hot baths.
- Put a plastic pop bottle or milk jug filled with water, pebbles or sand into your toilet tank and save 11.8 gallons of water a day.
