When April 22nd rolls around, and “Earth Day” arrives, we should all stop and think about the environment. We all live in it, and it’s something we’re going to leave to the next generation to enjoy or clean up.
If you want to make sure that upcoming generations have a good, safe place to live, try implementing a few of these tips at home. Our team here at Plumb Level has come up with a few things you can do to start making the world a greener place.
Consider Your Carbon Footprint
CO2, otherwise known as carbon dioxide, is a gas that retains heat. As we create more of it, it heats the Earth up and is one of the causes of global warming. Your individual contribution to carbon emissions is your carbon footprint.
There are many ways to reduce this footprint. You can buy cars or other products with lower CO2 emissions; also drive less and walk or bike more within your neighborhood.
You can also give your business to companies with an agenda of reducing their own CO2 emissions. All these little things add up to a big difference.
Make the Switch to a Tankless Water Heater
With a conventional water heater, you have a tank, and it uses a lot of energy to heat that tank up and warm the water inside. Once the tank is used up, the heating process begins all over again with a new tank of cold water.
With a tankless water heater, a heat exchanger is installed in your plumbing, and once a hot water tap is turned on, all the water running through the exchanger is heated for as long as the tap runs. This alone may save you $100 every year on your bills, and you’ll never have a shower run out of hot water again.
Get New, Eco-Friendly Plumbing Fixtures Installed
New plumbing fixtures aren’t just shiny; they’re now eco-friendly as well if you’re concerned about that. It means that showerheads don’t compromise on pressure, but use less water to do so.
Low flow toilets can use less water with every flush, sometimes up to 50% less if you’ve still got a toilet from the 20th century. When you make the switch to these new fixtures, you use less water, and that means you pay less.
Put a Water Filter in Your Home
Maybe you’ve got an old home with lead pipes in it, or maybe you just don’t like the taste of water from the tap, so you use bottled water or have a water cooler service instead.
If you get a water filter installed on your tap, you can filter out lead from older pipes in a home.
If your plumbing is up to date, you can get a water filter installed in your plumbing infrastructure itself and enjoy clean, safe, fresh water without all the bottles that need to be recycled afterward.