Go Green with Environmentally-Friendly Plumbing Practices
Posted by: Brian LeMaire in Health, tags: HealthA typical American home uses approximately one-hundred gallons of water per day, and according to the 2007 census, there are over one-hundred and eleven million households in the U.S. So, making some of the smallest changes to your own plumbing system can not only save you money now, but a potentially significant amount of money over time. And if everyone made these changes it would make a huge positive impact on the environment.
Low-flow: Inexpensive and relatively simple to install, low-flow shower heads, faucet aerators, and toilets can reduce your home water consumption by as much as 50% (an average household can save about 7,800 gallons of water a year), making them the most effective home water conservation projects. But what you may not realize is that if you’re cutting your water consumption, that reduces the amount of water that you need to heat -cutting your electricity or natural gas (whichever your hot water heater uses) bill up to 50%.
Bottled or tap: A water filtration system attached to your faucet (or free-standing) can purify enough water to fill up more than 3,000 disposable plastic water bottles every year. Globally, 38 billion disposable plastic water bottles are thrown out every year. Cutting down on the use of these disposable bottles also reduces crude oil dependency -crude oil by-product is used in plastic water bottle manufacturing, approximately 17 million barrels of oil are used every year just to meet America’s demands for these plastic water bottles. Buy a reusable bottle and fill it with water you filter yourself, you’ll save money and the environment.
Leaking faucets aren’t just annoying, they also cost you money. Fixing them keeps your money from going down the drain. On average, between twelve and thirteen gallons of households’ water use is water wasted by faucet, toilet, and pipe leaks. One leaking faucet can waste over seventy gallons a day and a leaking toilet can waster more than one-hundred and ninety gallons each day. It’s worth it to fix leaks yourself or calling a plumber to do it for you, you will save money in the long run.
When leaky pipes can’t be repaired because of too many pinhole leaks or another systemic problem, what can you do? Traditionally the solution has been to replace your plumbing system -to repipe, but that means cutting walls open and tearing out pipes. So not only are you throwing away the old pipes and the drywall that had to be removed to get at them, but then you need to replace them with new pipes and drywall. Manufacturing these new materials has an environmental impact.
Leaky pipes: What happens when your leaky pipes are so full of pinhole leaks or can’t be repaired and need to be replaced? A repipe, or pipe replacement, involves cutting open walls and removal of the affected pipes. Not only does this mean you’re throwing away drywall and old pipes, but you’re using new drywall and pipes, each with its own manufacturing toll on the environment.
CuraFlo’s epoxy pipe lining is a “green”, or environmentally friendly alternative to repipe. It involves less mess and takes less time than pipe replacement. More often than not epoxy lining is more cost-effective too. Your pipes are epoxy lined through connections to your existing plumbing fixtures and valves, nearly or completely eliminating the need to cut open walls. Your pipes are cleaned out and epoxy is blown through. Your existing pipes are restored to good as new condition with at least another 50 years of service life.
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