What is green plumbing? Well, green plumbing when applied to residential plumbing layouts, would mean plumbing that reduces your energy and or water wastage; an efficient plumbing system.
There are a variety of products out there that can save you water, but some are counter productive and some are a pain in the you-know-what. Others are certainly worthwhile and can even save you money.
The biggest factor involved in water and energy wastage is human behavior. It's our behaviors that waste the most energy and the most water. We all does it… leave lights on, leave water running when not necessary, linger in the shower… Going green seems to often lead to less convenience. But humans are after exactly that… convenience. That's why microwave ovens, took off. Dishwashers, washing machines, trash compactors, automatic sprinkler systems, it's all about convenience.
Some water conservation products address these behaviors. Low flow fixtures reduce the rate at which water flows from a fixture, so we use less water when we leave it running. This can be an inconvenience though, when you have to stand there and wait longer to fill up that pitcher or sink. Low flow toilets that don't always work with one flush.
There are numerous "gray water" systems that reclaim waste water like from your washing machine to use in flushing toilets or watering the lawn.
It's not hard to find water saving appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines. Probably all of them now at least have water conservation cycles or modes. I recently was talking to a guy who had just bought a new Bosch water conserving dishwasher. He was having a problem because the dishwasher didn't draw a high enough flow of water to turn on the water heater. To get clean dishes he has to run hot water in the sink while the dishwasher fills. So much for water conservation.
There are some water conservation products which do offer both convenience and save water. They are known as hot water demand systems. They get you your hot water to you faster and you don't run any water down the drain. The pumps are very efficient consuming less than $2.00 per year in electricity to operate. Not only are you saving water and energy with a demand system, but you are also reducing your carbon foot print.
Every gallon of water that you do not dump down the drain is one gallon less sewage that has to be treated and pumped etc which in turn uses less energy and thus results in reduced green house gas being released into the atmosphere.
Don't confuse hot water demand systems with those "luke warm circulating systems" on the market like the Laing Autocirc1, the Grundfos Comfort System, and the Watts Premier. These systems circulate warm water through the hot water piping and the cold water piping, but in doing so consume a lot of energy making your water heater work harder and costing you money. You also end up with warm water in your cold water lines and you must purge those lines of the lukewarm water to get cold water from the faucet.
Tankless water heaters typically take longer to get hot water to your fixtures wasting more water than hot water systems that use tank type water heaters. Demand hot water systems do work with tankless water heaters as long as you get one powerful enough, some just don't have enough power to generate enough flow to turn on a tankless water heater.
So go green and install a hot water demand system. It's a very earth friendly thing to do. You will feel good about what you are doing for the planet and you get the added convenience of fast hot water!
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