Thursday, June 7, 2007

The $20 earth-friendly makeover


I bet you've never given a second thought to your faucet aerator. Faucet aerators are the little disks in the mouth of your faucet that regulate how much water comes out when you turn the handle. If you're like me, it's something that never even occurred to you. And who would have thought that those little buggers could be replaced with more efficient models? Once again, not me.

But after a short investigation, I discovered that I was sending 2.5 gallons a minute down the drain. Multiply by two bathroom faucets, and well, it just seems like a bit much. So I spent my first $4.30, plus shipping, for the earth.

That was enough to get me two ultra-low-flow faucet aerators. They only use a half a gallon a minute.(You can see what I'm talking about here

It only took about a minute to install each one, and much to my surprise the faucets still have plenty of water pressure.

At this point, I'm already feeling mildly smug. It feels good to save a polar bear, one gallon at a time.

So what about the other $15 or so? While cruising the aisles at Lowe's I splurged and bought a low-flow shower head. My hubby was skeptical. Until his morning shower today.

That showerhead seems to have not only made us "greener" but also saved him, the daily late-waker, the unhappy shock of a cold morning shower. Who could resist that?

I'll admit. These first two "projects" are probably the easiest we are going to encounter on our journey. But hey, I'm not too proud to admit that the cheap and easy path is a great place to start.

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