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Berrie
Joined: 01 Mar 2008
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:45 am Post subject: Residential water conservation questions |
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Hi!
I am new to this forum, and subscribed looking for some answers.
Keep in mind, I am a student at GA Tech, and my questions are related to a research class project, and NOT to any company and/or invention.
Are you worried about our water supply?
Many states are suffering from record droughts. Combined with record developments, this is causing a water supply crisis, in which consumers are asked to conserve water.
How do you (or would you) conserve water? How can you tell if your efforts to conserve water are working?
Would it help (or be of value to you) to get instant real-time feedback on your water usage?
If you were to purchase a home, and the (or a secondary) water meter would be inside easily accessible, would you consider this as a plus?
Thanks!
Berrie |
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joelmckellar
Joined: 31 May 2006
Posts: 80
Location: Charleston, SC
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:07 pm Post subject: instant feedback |
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I would look at some energy metering products like Wattson as examples of how we could look at measuring water use.
I would be curious to see a graph of how much water various household tasks use (washing the dishes, taking showers (who's showers use the most water!), watering the lawn, cooking, etc).
Frankly I have no idea if doing the dishes in the sink takes as much water as doing the laundry or taking a shower. It would be interesting to see household water use graphed in recognizable form. We might find our 10 minute showers (which could be reduced significantly) are responsible for 90% of our water use...
The key to make it useful is being able to link our actions to associated costs, monetary and otherwise...
_________________
Joel McKellar, LEED AP
http://www.reallifeleed.com/ |
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lekizz
millennium club
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:21 am Post subject: |
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Here are some UK domestic statistics, which I presume will be vaguely similar to the US - okay, I know you have bigger cars ...and bigger bodies to wash 
http://www.uswitch.com/Water/How-Much-Water-Use.html
There are some shocking stats e.g. over a third of our drinking water consumption is flushed directly down the toilet. And just look at the comparitive water use between washing your car with a bucket or a hosepipe!
And there is a useful comparison here with the amount of water used in other parts of the world. Again shocking!
I know there are simple devices which limit the amount of water used in flushing the toilet. I'm trying to source one myself, it attaches inside the cystern and stops the flush when you release the handle (available for about £18 in the UK). |
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