Let's Save Energy - Our Most Precious Resource...What We Have Is What We Get

Our most precious resource….what we have is what we get.

Hello everyone.

Do you know what is our most precious resource?  Oil? Gas? Gold?  If you said ‘water’, you are correct.  Think about it….we only have a fixed amount of water here on earth.  Whatever is in our lakes, oceans, ponds, and underground, is all we have. It’s been that way since the earth was born.  

Our fixed supply of water is constantly being recycled…from the lakes and oceans and underground, up into the clouds, and then eventually it rains back down to earth.  The earth does not consume any water, nor does it make any additional clean water.  What we have is what we get.  And CLEAN water, is even more precious.  

Imagine life if our supply of clean water was limited or constrained?  Everything we are accustomed to…a warm shower, a glass of water to drink, water for cooking, water for coffee…would all be affected without clean water.  So we must try to conserve and save our clean water supply.  It’s in our own best interest!

One very simple and key way we can conserve water is with our toilets.  Did you know that toilet flushes account for about 30% of our daily water consumption?  Is your toilet over 10 years old?  If so, it probably consumes about 5 gallons of CLEAN water on every flush.  Newer, more modern toilets, on the other hand, only consume about 1.6 gallons, or even 1.3 gallons on the really efficient models.  And, you do not lose any performance.  

If you have an older toilet, please consider replacing it immediately!  You can purchase the new “low flow” toilets at Home Depot or Lowes for under $100.  And replacing a toilet is generally very simple.  You can search the internet for step by step instructions or just ask around.  Someone at your church or club knows how to replace a toilet, and would be happy to help you.  

On average a family of 4 flushes the toilet about 15 to 20 times per day! Replacing an older toilet with a new low flow toilet, would save about 70 gallons per day!!  70 gallons per day of precious, CLEAN water.  If only half of the 5600 households in Brookfield, for example, saved 70 gallons per day, that would save over 200,000 gallons of CLEAN water per day! (imagine the value of 200,000 gallons of clean water to poor villages throughout the world that lack clean water….).  

To learn more about how to save energy, save money, and help the earth (who wouldn’t want to do all three?!), please see my website at www.saveenergyusa.com .  A simple hour or two evaluation of your home could save you thousands!  Often times,  no-cost and low-cost actions can save hundreds starting immediately.

Think energy savings every day.  Next time we will talk about more ways to save our precious clean water.

jeff