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Most green features help save money on your energy bills all the while reducing your energy expenditure. But water saving features helps you save on your energy bill, but also on your water bills. At Southland Custom Homes we employ several water saving green features standard in every home.
Can you guess how many gallons of water one toilet flush uses? In the 1980's one flush could use anywhere from 3 to 7 gallons per flush. But thanks to the National Energy Policy Act, they created new toilets that used less water each time it was flushed. The ultra-low consumption toilets use less than 1.5 gallons of water per flush. That is a large impact on water consumption in a household and also a large portion of your monthly bills.
The first low flow toilets were made by just adding water saving modifications to a regular standard toilet design. Although these toilets did decrease the overall daily use of water, they also decreased the flush force and left many customers dissatisfied. So a design team put their heads together and figured out a way to change it. They inserted a larger flapper valve hole in the bottom of the water tank, a larger trapway hole at the bottom of the toilet bowl, and a glazed trapway to help ease the way for waste. With these new technologies they were able to keep the low flow flush but with a good amount of force to equal the force of a standard toilet.
At Southland we use Low Flow elongated toilets with the newest technology. Through the technological advances in toilet designs, the most effective is the addition of pressure assisted flushing. This technique uses siphoned air in the toilet tank to push the water into the bowl, giving the same amount of water more force.
Having ultra-low flow toilets in your home will be a smart addition. When using a ultra-low flow toilet, it is estimated that a family of four could save at least 22,000 gallons of water a year. There are many advantages to cut down on the things we tend to use most in our daily lives. The newest ultra-low consumption toilet styles use less than 1.5 gallons of water per flush, compared to a standard toilet that can use up to 7 gallons per flush. With the national average cost of 1,000 gallons of water at $6.06, you could be saving as much as $200 annually on your water bill and saving a precious resource for future generations.
Having low flow faucets and shower heads make conserving water a breeze. They can reduce home water consumption as much at 30%. They can also reduce the energy costs involved with heating water, by as much as 30%. At Southland we use Delta Windemere faucets in bathrooms and kitchens throughout our homes because Delta is committed to green manufacturing processes and helping use water in a smarter and more environmentally smarter ways. They provide faucets that address today's water conservation concerns as well as water purity and accessibility. These smarter water delivery solutions maximize water efficiency and the life span of the products, without sacrificing the comfort and convenience of the user experience.
Delta Faucet Company is committed to several sustainability initiatives. As a WaterSense® partner, Delta Faucet Company works with the EPA to offer WaterSense labeled products that operate at 1.5 gpm at 60 psi, which is approximately 30% more water-efficient than a standard 2.2 gpm lavatory at 60 psi, while meeting or exceeding the performance of typical faucets. Their products are designed to offer maximum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points as standardized by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Delta products can help builders meet Model Green Home Building Guidelines established by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). And Delta is a charter partner in the Environments for Living® Certified Green initiative of the Masco Corporation, created to deliver homes built to higher, sustainable standards.
Delta has created new technology advances for the inside of faucets, DIAMOND Seal Technology. This new design involves the hardest surface known to man, diamonds. The diamonds are embedded on a ceramic disk; this eliminates joints and seals, decreasing the places most leaks occur. This also guarantees no leaks from the valves with a 10 times longer life.
After heating and cooling your home, water heating is typically the largest energy user in the home because it is necessary for so many domestic activities. Because water heating is such a major component in a home's operating costs, Southland installs Rheem hi-efficiency electric water heaters. Rheem is a partner with Energy Star. Products with the Energy Star label are the most energy efficient choices you can make as a consumer.
Products awarded the Energy Star label significantly enhance energy savings while providing a healthy environment. By participating in the Energy Star, Rheem is helping to differentiate between standard-efficiency and high-efficiency products. Using these products helps you save money on your utility bills and works to protect the environment by conserving energy.
An Energy Star labeled products from Rheem is in the top 25% for efficiency. Depending on the age of existing equipment, you can save from 15%-40% on utility bills by choosing an Energy Star qualified product from Rheem.
The combination of these 3 methods for conserving water and reducing water heating costs makes every Southland home more environmentally friendly. We make it easy for you to save money and help to conserve our most precious natural resource.
