Conserve water at home: 5 tips on how to save water and energy

Making efforts to conserve water at home can really make a difference.  For example, if everyone in America lowered the temperature on their water heater by 10 degrees F, 45 million tons of carbon monoxide would not enter the atmosphere every year, according to Renee Loux's eco living guide, Easy Green Living: The Ultimate Guide to Simple, Eco-Friendly Choices for You and Your Home.  This would be the equivalent to all the CO2 emissions of a small country, such as Libya.  The more people who conserve water at home, the better; but, every individual who makes an effort is a step forward, and not a step backward.  Try any or all of these tips on how to save water, and the energy used to heat water.  They are not a huge commitment, but rather small changes anyone can do.

1. Take shorter showers!  Even shaving two or three minutes from a ten minute shower will save gallons of water — 7 to 10 gallons per minute for conventional showers.
2. Wash laundry in warm or cold water instead of hot water, and use the smallest water setting for the size of the load.  According to the US Department of Energy, 90% of the energy used for doing a load of clothes is directed towards heating the water.  
3. Turn down the temperature on the water heater.  An eco-friendly setting is 120 degrees F, most heaters are set to 140 degrees.  Turning the temperature down 10 degrees will prevent 600 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from each household.
4. Turn the water off while brushing teeth.  Leaving the water running uses ten gallons of water on average!
5. Washing dishes by hand is a good way to save energy, but not to conserve water.  With the faucet running, on average 30 gallons of water are used, as opposed to about 15 with a dishwasher.  If washing by hand, fill up the sink with soapy water and rinse dishes in cold water.  

photo by Steven DePolo