Posted in conservation, environment, everyday, sustainable, utilities, water, tagged CCF, garden, lawn, sprinkler system, yard on May 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Here in drought-reality California, we’re being told to reduce our water usage, voluntarily. I’m all for water conservation, but what does a 10% reduction look like?
My household of two uses 145 gallons per day*, so 10% means 14.5 gallons per day, which is equal to, daily:
9 toilet flushes (at 1.6 gallons/flush)
7 minute shower (at 2 [...]
Posted in bicycling, conservation, energy saving, environment, everyday, health, sustainable, utilities, walkability, water, tagged behavioral change, Earth Day on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today is Earth Day, so lots of attention is being paid to earth-friendly efforts. Fortunately, the interest in energy-saving and CO2-reducing efforts is increasing every day.
But really, isn’t it Earth Day every day?
Since the topic of this blog is “Everyday Sustainable”, I want to reflect on what is truly sustainable, everyday. It’s true that until [...]
Posted in conservation, energy saving, environment, everyday, kitchen, sustainability, sustainable, utilities, water, tagged aerators, faucet, irrigation system, low-flow, shower, water audit on March 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Take shorter showers!
That’s the big take-away for today’s Water Wise House Call. The Ssnta Clara Valley Water District offers it free as part of their water conservation program. I signed up a few weeks ago as part of my own effort to maximize energy/resource efficiency in my new rental house.
Some things the surveyor did:
Calculated our [...]
Posted in energy saving, environment, everyday, kitchen, sustainable, utilities, water, tagged water heater on March 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
138ºF water. Scalding hot. Waste-of-energy hot. Hurts-my-hands-to-wash-dishes hot. Risky-to-jump-in-the-shower hot.
Sure, it’s better than the other way around–no hot water–but my guess was the water heater in my house was set too high.
The recommended temp is 120 F. It’s good from a utility perspective (for dishwashers and clothes washers) and for safety, especially for children. Also, [...]
Posted in recycle, water, tagged Brita, filter on August 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
San Francisco water is pretty good, but I do like it better after it goes through the Brita filter. I carry around my own water bottle filled up from the filter when I go out. So that’s all good. But then there’s the problem of the filter.
Unfortunately, the Brita filter is not recyclable.
I did a [...]
Posted in energy saving, kitchen, water on July 28, 2008 | 4 Comments »
I found the manual to my dishwasher online at the KitchenAid site–hooray for PDFs!.
This is what I learned in “Energy Saving Tips”:
Use the ENERGY SAVER DRY (no heat).
Flash dry dishes. After final rinse, unlatch door and advance Cycle Selection Dial to Pots/Pans Cycle; open door and pull out the racks. Because of the heat buildup [...]
