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Green Building and Renovations
July 31, 2014

In a world with a rapidly rising population and a depletion of resources available, many people are going green in the hopes of squandering what is left forfuture generations. Many are practicing habits such as reducing, reusing and recycling the products that we buy. But why stop there?

Think of the resources used to build a new home...the water? the raw materials? and the energy? Green Building is a great way to continue your green habitson a much larger scale. According to the US Green Building Council, 15 trillion gallons of water and 3 Billion tons of raw materials are consumed annuallyjust in home building. In addition to using up less resources, generally speaking, green homes are healthier, more comfortable, more durable and by beingenergy efficient, can save the consumer money in energy costs.

There are upgrades that can be performed on your existing home to "green it up", as well. These changes can be as complex as upgrading your Indoor AirQuality to fixing a leaky faucet. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), each drop of water contributes to over 1 trillion gallons ofwater that leaks from toilets, faucets and other plumbing fixtures annually in the U.S.

One way to get started is to pick a room in the house and see what you can do to make it a little more Eco-friendly. For example, take a look at yourbathroom. A few ways to make your bathroom greener are as follows:

1. Replace your toilet with a dual-flush toilet. These types of toilets have a circular flushing button that is divided into two "crescent moon" lookingbuttons. One button is used for disposing liquid waste, while the other is used for disposing solid waste. A dual-flush toilet can save up to 25% morewater than standard toilets.

2. Replace your existing shower-heads and sink faucets with water-efficient shower-heads and faucets. Showering accounts for about 30% of a home's totalwater consumption. A traditional shower head uses nearly 2.5 gallons per minute while a water-efficient shower head cuts that water consumption back to 1.5gallons, yet allows for the same amount of water pressure.

3. Replace the light bulbs in the bathroom with energy efficient light bulbs. The electricity used over the lifetime of a single incandescent bulb costs 5 to 10 times the original purchase price of the bulb itself.

4. For a bit of larger project that will save water and conserve energy in your bathroom and 20% less energy on average than traditional water heaters.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if 1 in 10 homes upgraded their bathrooms with water-efficient toilets, shower heads and faucets, itcould save up to 74 billion gallons of water and nearly $1.5 billion in annually in utility costs. These upgrades will not only pay for themselves in ashort time but will do wonders for this environment that we hope to save for the future.


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