Go Green: It’s Earth Day!

Do you know when Earth Day is? On April 22nd, that’s when we don’t celebrate—so much as think about—our lives on this delicate planet, and what we can do to help. The Earth is changing year after year, and while we may not see the negative effects, our children and grandchildren will.

If you want to stop that from happening, here is a guide made by our team here at Powell’s Plumbing of things you can do to help the environment. Sometimes it just comes down to a question of how old the things are in your home.

How Old Are Your Plumbing Fixtures?

This is going to be running theme of this article, but age makes a big difference, especially for plumbing fixtures from the 20th century versus new ones made this century.

Older plumbing fixtures are often built to last, but just because they’re still working fine, it doesn’t mean they’re efficient.

New low-flow toilets, for example, can use up to 50% less water with every single flush.

Faucets and showers equipped with “water sense” provide you with the same pressure you may be expecting from your water, but don’t need to use as much water to maintain that pressure.

How Old Is Your Water Heater?

Older, traditional water heaters work on a pretty simple concept; fill up a tank with water, then use energy to heat up that volume of water. Once the water is used up in a shower or laundry, there’s no more hot water until a new batch is heated up.

New, tankless water heaters do away with the tank and install a heat exchanger at some point in your plumbing. This heats the water directly in your plumbing once the tap is turned, and uses far less energy, up to $100 less per year in bills. It also means showers never run cold again.

How Old Is Your Water Filter?

Do you not trust the water from your tap for drinking? Do you instead rely on bottled water, or a water cooler service instead? Or maybe you have a water filter built into a pitcher?

You can have a new water filter installed either directly on a tap, or right into your plumbing. When you do this, you get all the safe, great tasting water you can drink or cook with, but you also get rid of the need to collect and recycle bottles.

How Old Are Your Carbon Footprint Strategies?

Technology changes and so has the pace of global warming. It may be time to revisit your strategies for shrinking your carbon footprint, or, if you have none, start thinking of implementing one.

Your carbon footprint is a measurement of how much CO2—or carbon dioxide—you add to the Earth’s atmosphere.

CO2 is a factor in global warming, so by taking the time to lower your CO2 emissions and give your business to companies that are also committed to doing so, you help reverse this process.