Lowering resource consumption

[thx712517]

Working on improving the house's resource consumption. 2300 sq ft, two stories, in Georgia. Built in 1988.

Started at 2900 gallons, 199.5 therms, and 322 kwh. Rebuilt a leaky toilet, installed low-flow faucet aerators and diverter valves, replaced a number of incandescent bulbs with LEDs, and installed weather stripping around the garage.

Last month got down to 2100 gallons, 99.8 therms, and 181 kwh. Getting better, but there's still more to go. I've got another thirty 60 watt bulbs to replace, another toilet to rebuild, and so much more sealing to do.

[vskid3]

Nice numbers so far. Any plans to add insulation to the roof or elsewhere?

Are you more focused on lowering usage or lowering costs? If you want to lower costs, you might be better off only replacing the most used bulbs for now and doing the others as they die. If you're keeping a few incandescent bulbs in use for places like closets, keep the working incandescents you replace to use as spares.

[thx712517]

Lowering usage is the name of the game. So far I've been targeting the most frequently used lights for replacement. The goal is to switch the whole house over to LED. Once that has been accomplished I would like to replace our three ancient toilets with new ones, either the Niagara 0.8 toilets or a decent 1.26 gpf or whatever the current rating is.

After that I'll look at adding insulation where possible. Between this, the yard, and the garden my spending is very limited.

[redpoint5]

I've been happy with the Water Ridge dual flush toilets sold at Costco. They are low flow but very resistant to clogging. It has a feature that slowly lowers the seat or lid when you put it down, so that it doesn't slam down. The thing I like the most is the higher seat height. I'm 6'2" and my wife is 6" tall. The 16" height is more comfortable than standard height toilets.

I take that back, I think the thing I like the best is the $80 price tag. I've replaced all 3 toilets in the house with these.

[gone-ot]

We switched from the original (circa 1982) 3-gallon toilets to new 1.28-gallon toilets and noticed an immediate reduction in our monthly water bills.

[redpoint5]

I go number 1 outside whenever I get the chance. Not to save water, but just because I prefer it. No splashing, no flushing. The way nature intended it.

[Cobb]

Thats what I told the comcast guy who wanted to use my b room. I told him to turn around and take aim.

Another way to save tp and water is to take your #2 at work. One Saturday my only toilet was backed up and a plunger didnt fix it. I just drove to work and took care of my business.

Another thing I did to cut down on expense for trash service was to carry what I couldnt take to work to throw away there to the dump. They had free service for residents, but you had to bring it to the dump. Daily stuff I put in an old walmart bag and carried to work to throw away there.

When shopping I empty a lot of boxes and put the food in the shopping bags and leave the trash there in the cart in the parking lot.

[euromodder]

Ain't that a bit extreme ?

I've started composting - that takes a huge chunk out of the waste bin.
It took a while for the composting to catch on, but it's in full swing now.

Plastic bottles and metal cans were already recycled, as was paper and carton, glass gets recycled or reused.
City has started recycling assorted plastics in separate bags - that's another big chunk out of the waste bin.


German shops often have recycling bins right at the exit, and you're welcome to sort and dispose off any packing materials right then and there.

[Cobb]

I tried the composting thing, but the trash didnt break down. I didnt go to the extreme and get chickens, chicken poop or fish heads. I just threw yard and kitchen waste together in like a hot box.

[redpoint5]

It's troubling how many things are required to be recycled. If the items had value, then businesses would be paying consumers to take the recyclables off their hands. There's no reason to recycle paper products since it costs more (consumes more resources) to do so than to just grow more paper trees. Composting is pointless since things can either rot in a "compost" or they can rot in a "landfill".

In Salem, the trash is sent to an incinerator to be burned while producing electricity. This makes sense, considering decomposition is the process of oxidizing organic matter. Burning is the same process, but the energy can be harnessed to produce power, while the most harmful emissions can be sequestered.