Easy Ways to Green Your Home

Every green-minded homeowner dreams of solar panels, high-efficiency windows and low-flush toilets. The reality check can be a discouraging one: These features, while great for the environment and money-saving over time, can come with a sobering price tag. There is good news for the determined, however. A green home can happen in small, inexpensive steps, and the homeowner won’t need a costly contractor for most of them.

Water Control

Reducing the home’s water consumption is an easy and important green step. Low-flow faucets, aerators, and showerheads are very inexpensive, easily installed and make for effective water-savers. These devices can save you money on two fronts: by lowering the water bill and lowering energy costs by reducing the amount of water that needs to be heated.

The EPA’s WaterSense program certifies and labels bathroom faucets and faucet accessories as meeting the program’s strict water-saving standards. A growing list of faucets from Delta, Moen, and Price Pfister are available for the homeowner looking to replace a water-hogging faucet with one that meets or exceeds WaterSense’s 1.5 gallon per minute (gpm) standard. Delta’s Lahara line of bathroom faucets boasts four models that carry the WaterSense label, with prices ranging from $130 to $230 per faucet set.

For a more affordable alternative, an aerator or spray flow device might be the way to go. WaterSense-certified aerators and flow regulators from NEOPERL are easily installed and can be purchased for as little as $4. Bill Davis, founder and president of Utility Savers, in St. Petersburg, Fla., insists that water-saving faucet accessories is one of the quickest devices to payback: “We have a hotel that is saving 20 million gallons of water a year just by using a water-saving aerator,” says Davis. With faucet accessories that reduce water flow to as little as 0.375 gpm, a household can experience payback in less than a month. Furthermore, the aerator is one of the easiest products to install. “It takes less than a minute,” adds Davis.

Low-flow showerheads, although slightly more expensive, are another easy way to save water and money. These products reduce a typical 2.6-gpm shower experience to 1.0 or 1.5 gpm with little or no reduction in quality and can cost under $20. They require a little more DIY know-how, but the average homeowner should find it’s a project that can be completed without help from the plumber.