Don't Get Overwhelmed! Get Started!

Picture borrowed from Nature Moms

I recognize that reading about Climate Change can seem overwhelming and make you feel helpless, but that's really not the case. If every person who knew about Climate Change worked to reduce their CO2 emissions and energy waste, we would be well on our way to turning things around.

So for those of you who have expendable incomes and a home you can modify, I offer the following links to give you inspiration, ideas and help in greening your home...

GreenHomeGuide
Smartly organizing its resources based on the rooms of a house (and its exteriors), this is a great place to start finding out about all the things you can do to make your home "greener."

HGTVpro.com's Green Building Centre
This is another good place to start and one that is particularly user friendly if you found the GreenHomeGuide's blog-style format difficult to peruse. Being a product of HGTV, there are also many useful videos to keep your interest.

16 Ways To Green Your Home (.pdf)
This is a straightforward list offered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). I would recommend that you should read more than just this list though. For example, their section about reducing outdoor water usage doesn't even mention buying and using a rainwater tank (aka "water butt"), which is not a new idea, but a good one.

US EPA's Take Action at Home Tips
Broken down into only three categories, the US EPA provides long but easily digestible bullet point style lists for how to use less energy and water, produce less waste, and information about disposing of toxic household items properly.

Newsweek: Home Green Home
This is a very short but interesting Q&A with author Sara Lamia about whether (and which) eco-friendly upgrades are worth the expenses.

And last but certainly not least...
TreeHugger: How To Go Green
One of the most popular green blogs presents guides on how to green everything from your water and electricity to your sex life and wedding. I would start with their electricity guide and move on from there.

For more detailed and specific resources, I would take a look at the links at What's Working or the UK's excellent Energy Saving Trust.

Lo-Flow Post

I started reading the METAEFFICIENT blog over the last few days and although it suffers from a lack of editing, it has a lot of great and usually practical information for people interested in efficient design and bringing some of it into their home.

The two things that most interested me were a post on low-flow shower heads (here), and low-flow toilets.

While I think the low-flow showerhead post is good, I would like to add a little about what I found out about toilets...

For one, the US EPA reports that toilets account for about 30% of residential indoor water use. They suggest that by installing a WaterSense high-efficiency toilet (HET), you can save 4,000 gallons and $90 per year (for a family of four). This means that even more expensive HETs (e.g., costing around $300-400) will pay for themselves in only 3-4 years of use. If you buy the cheapest HET model currently listed on Home Depot's website (cost: $99.00), it will pay for itself after the first year!

For two, I didn't know that 1992 saw a dramatic drop in the amount of gallons-per-flush (gpf) required for American toilets. Standard toilet models in the US prior to this time used 13 litres (L) or about 3.5 gallons (gal), and older toilet models may actually use 5.0 gpf. After 1992, toilets were required to use no more than 6 L or 1.6 gal. Beyond this, the US EPA's WaterSense programme requires that toilets getting their seal of approval as HETs use no more than 1.28 gpf (20% less than the 1992 standard) while still removing at least 350 grams (g) of waste (full details). They have provided a list of toilets fitting these specifications here. The problem with their list is that it doesn't list the actual gpf used by each toilet, however the Santa Clara Valley Water District's list does! I guess if you live there you can get assistance in buying up to three HETs for your home.

One problem people have had with older model low-flow toilets is their tendency to have problems actually flushing things. Terry Love's Consumer toilet reports aims to save people hassles by testing toilets and telling consumers which ones actually work. If you want to skip ahead, you can go straight to his favorite manufacturer's webpages: TOTO and Caroma. From Love's message boards, it seems like you can't go wrong with the TOTO Aquia. That said, he doesn't cover HETs. For a good list of HETs, head over to the California Urban Water Conservation Council's (CUWCC) list which was revised as recently as August 21, 2007. CUWCC's Product News pages have information for just about every water-using appliance/fixture/thing you can think of (including much more about HETs) and is well worth a look.