This prototype home includes many water saving features. All the toilets are dual flush, which means there are two settings to chose from when flushing. One setting is for solids = 1.6 gal and one setting is for liquids = 1.1 gal. Most new toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush. On the lower setting I am obviously saving 1/2 gallon per flush. I also bought the elongated toilets which are much more comfortable. Every faucet in this house, including the kitchen faucet, bath vanity faucets and shower faucets, is rated at 1.5 gallons per minute of flow. These fixtures have special low flow aerators that reduce the amount of water coming out of each fixture. The average faucet on the market has a rating of 2.5 gallons per minute of water flow. For every minute that water is being used at these faucets, I am saving 1 gallon of water compared to most new faucets. With the proper water pressure setting, nobody, including myself, has noticed any difference. These low flow faucets also save energy when using hot water as less hot water is actually used. When shopping for a new washing machine, I knew that I wanted to buy a front loading style. Front loading washing machines use up to 70% less water than a top loader, while also reducing energy costs. The way they reduce energy costs is by using less heated water (I usually wash all of my clothes on cold anyways) and because the drum can spin at a much higher RPM, there is much less energy used to dry the clothes in your dryer. Although I have yet to buy these, I also plan to install rain barrels at the end of each gutter's down spout. The rain barrels I have picked out are made of 100% recycled plastic and have two valves--the main valve at the bottom and an overflow valve closer to the top. These rain barrels will be used to water the fruit and vegetable gardens with drip hose attachments extended to each garden or fruit tree. I estimate that over a one year period I alone will save over 3000 gallons of water living in this prototype. It's amazing how easy all of these water saving features are to buy and install, while not reducing comfort in any way. If every person in this country could save just 500 gallons of water per year (which is really easy) that would equal 156 billions gallons collectively.
