Saving water and energy in the bathroom is essential not only to reduce your bill, but also and above all to reduce the environmental impact of your consumption. From the duration of your shower to the recovery of waste water, through the installation of low-consumption appliances and intelligent boilers, there are many interventions that can be carried out at home. Sometimes, you just need to change your habits.
How to save money in the bathroom water and electricity? This is one of the questions that Italian families ask themselves most frequently, also in consideration of the growing costs for the energy component.
On the one hand the bills are becoming increasingly expensive, on the other hand there is the need to protect an increasingly scarce resource such asdrinking water. And even if it is often not easy to notice, the bathroom is one of the rooms in the house where the greatest waste occurs.
Luckily, small attentions and a more conscious lifestyle are enough to significantly reduce the consumption in the bathroom. Small daily actions that can halve energy requirements by up to 50%, as well as water consumption: a great advantage for both your wallet and the environment. Below, some useful advice.
How to save in the bathroom: water
Drinking water is a truly precious commodity. A commodity that is necessary not only for human nutrition, but for many daily needs, such as personal hygiene, cleaning environments, and caring for vegetables and ornamental plants. Yet, in the bathroom, large quantities of it are wasted due to careless behavior, which we often don’t even realize.
Dual-stream exhaust
Every time you use the WC and it is activated I unloadup to 15 liters of drinking water are used in a few seconds. Of course, it would be unthinkable to ask not to flush the toilet after using it, however sometimes more water is used than is actually necessary.
For this reason, a good idea is to install some dual flush toilet flushesone designed for solid waste, the other for liquid waste. This system in fact has two different buttons, which allow you to save more than 50% of water. In fact, when you only need to discharge liquid waste, you will use 3-5 liters of water instead of 15.
Install shower heads and flow reducers
The blowholes and flow reducers they are small accessories that really make a difference in domestic water consumption, especially in the bathroom. They are in fact small plastic devices that, installed on the profile of the taps, allow you to reduce the amount of water without altering your daily needs.
How? In a very simple way, through a special weave, these accessories mix water with thousands of air bubbles. In this way, the power of the flow coming out of the tap will remain unchanged, however less will be wasted.
Prefer shower to bath
As far as personal hygiene and water use are concerned, a false belief is really hard to die. Many people believe that, since during the shower the flow is constant and immediately discharged, more water is wasted than with a hot bath. It is not so:
- Bath: from 100 to 170 litres of water, depending on the capacity of the tank;
- Shower: 60 to 90 litres of water for 5-10 minutes, depending on the intensity of the jet.
Although the shower represents a continuous and immediately discharged flow, the dispenser is designed to emit smaller quantities of water compared to the much more generous flow of a classic bathtub faucet.
Recover cold water
How many times do you open the tap of thehot water and have to wait even several minutes before the flow of the tap actually feels comfortable? This is a physiological problem, due to the water remaining in the pipes in the section following the water heaterwhich increases depending on the distance between the tap and the boiler itself.
A good idea might be to recover this water. For example, by placing a basin inside the sink or a bucket under the shower. While waiting for the flow to heat up, the cold water will be collected and can be used for household cleaning or to water flowers.
Turn off the taps when brushing your teeth
It may seem trivial, but turning off the tap when you wash your hands teeth can avoid incredible waste. Considering an average duration of three minutes, the consumption is in fact equal to:
- Tap open: 20-30 liters;
- Tap closed: 1.5 liters.
How to save in the bathroom: electricity
Not only water, in the bathroom it is also necessary to save electricity: between washing machines, hygiene and beauty accessories, heating and lighting, the sources of waste are truly numerous.
Choose A+ class appliances
The choice of the home appliancesin particular the washing machinecan have a significant impact on how to save water in the bathroom. It is better to choose class A+ or higher appliances, designed to wash laundry with smaller amounts of water than more traditional models.
The number of rinses is then usually lower – but no less effective – and this can reduce the water requirement for each wash cycle by up to 30%.
Install A+ washing machines
Similar to water consumption, the A+ class washing machines or later are ideal for significantly reducing the energy consumed for each individual wash. Just think that a traditional washing machine consumes about 415 kWh per year, compared to only 218 kWh for a class A+.
It is then useful to adjust the temperature. If the clothes just need to be refreshed and there are no stubborn stains, you can use a 30 degree wash. The heating elements of the washing machine will not be activated, for a truly minimal consumption.
Do not use the dryer
L’dryer It is one of the most energy-hungry appliances in the home. Depending on the class, it can require between 2 and 5 kWh for each laundry cycle. This applies to both stand-alone appliances and the drying functions integrated into washing machines.
It is therefore better to prefer thenatural dryingeven more ecological. Not only in terms of consumption, but also in terms of pollution. The dryer is one of the main sources of textile microplastic emissions.
Change light bulbs, even in mirrors
Old incandescent light bulbs can be changed to reduce energy consumption. And this rule is also valid in the bathroom: by replacing classic bulbs with LED lightsyou can consume just 5 or 10% of the energy required by traditional solutions.
This also applies to mirrors and cabinets, which are often overlooked. There are many on the market LED spotlights which screw perfectly into the small connectors of these bathroom furniture.
Avoid heaters and aerators
The electric heater It is one of the allies to fight the winter cold in the bathroom, especially in homes that are no longer very young. Yet, even if it remains on for a few minutes, it is very voracious of energy. Even 1200w at each switch on. It is better then to think about improving the thermal insulation of your room, identifying cracks that give on the external wall and sealing the window frames.
A similar argument applies to the aeratorsalthough in some situations necessary. When the bathroom is blind, that is, without windows, there are regulations that require the use of aerators, to ensure proper air circulation. But if the bathroom is equipped with appropriate windows, it is not worth installing it.
Use hot water only if necessary
If the hot water production system is electric, whether instantaneous or with a boiler, every time the hot water is turned on there is a energy consumption. But is it really necessary to always resort to hot water?
Sometimes, for example, you open the hot water tap to wash your hands and you finish before the warm water can actually flow, because of the distance between the boiler and the tap. But the moment you open the tap, the boiler is activated, so we are wasting energy.
Disconnect accessories in standby
Razors, hair straighteners, latest generation hair dryers, electric toothbrushes: it’s best to unplug any bathroom accessory when not in use, to avoid it ending up in stand-by. The small red signal light, in fact, wastes energy and can even weigh on the bill by 20/50 euros per year, adding up all the devices available.
If the device is battery-powered, as is the case with electric toothbrushes, it is also a good idea to disconnect its charger once the battery life has been restored.
Saving in the bathroom: the most common doubts
But what are the most common doubts about saving water and energy in the bathroom, what habits should we adopt right away to avoid seeing the bill rise and, of course, reduce our environmental impact?
How long should a shower last?
Often, you can optimize your household consumption by simply reducing the duration of your bathroom activities. For example, by limiting the time you spend in the shower, you can reduce your annual water consumption by up to 15% and your energy consumption by at least 5%.
Ma What is the ideal length of a shower?? Experts talk about 5 minutes maximum, always turning off the taps while soaping up. These are really short times and, for this reason, the advice is not to exceed 7-10 minutes.
How much do you save by washing in cold water in the washing machine?
A cycle of cold machine wash it can consume up to 20% less than the corresponding cycle at 40 or 60 degrees. For this reason, when the dirt is not too stubborn, it is useful to deactivate the water heating, with the appropriate button provided on the appliance.
Modern washing machines are also equipped with “eco-friendly” wash cycles, which allow you to halve the water used inside the drum and reduce the water temperature as much as possible.
Should the boiler be kept on all the time?
We often wonder if the boiler at home should always be kept on or, on the contrary, used when needed. The answer is not simple, since much depends on the styles of use.
For a family that spends a lot of time at home, and composed of four or more members, keeping the boiler always on could represent a saving. On the contrary, for those who spend a lot of time away from home, it is more advantageous to install boilers and smart boilersthat is, connected to the network, to be turned on remotely about an hour before returning home.
Source: www.greenstyle.it
