GreeniacsArticles
Water
Water Monitor
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Written by Miranda Huey
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| Friday, 16 July 2010 | ||||
Water MonitorBUT WAIT!!! You may be able to install a water meter and monitor your household’s usage on your own. Just being aware of the volume of water you use can help remind you to reduce your water consumption. You can stop by the water meter daily or weekly to check how your water usage changes over time. You might discover leaks in your house, any appliances that use up a lot of water, or any habits that unexpectedly use a lot of water. If you don’t already have a water meter, you are probably prohibited from installing one on your own. Most municipalities prefer to hire water meter installers and legally forbid households from installing it themselves.2 One reason for this prohibition is that consumers could potentially install the water meter incorrectly, creating false readings or water leaks. Another reason is that during the installation of the new water meter, consumers could potentially contaminate or pollute the general water supply.3 Some municipalities actually allow you to install the water meter on your own. Even so, you probably shouldn’t do it. Unless you have training or experience in pipe fitting, welding, and basic plumbing, you might end up doing some serious damage to your property or to yourself. If you really want to learn, enroll in a local plumbing course that teaches those basics. Before installing anything, make sure to comply with any construction permits, licensing, and fees your city, county, or state requires.4 Fortunately, some municipalities allow you to hire your own independent contractor. This can be a plumbing independent contractor or a professional water meter installer. If you can, ask around for recommendations. Before the contractor comes to your home, set the terms of your contract over the phone.5 Another project to consider… installing an electric power monitor! Electric power monitors display how much electricity your household is using at any given moment. Many power monitors, like TED and The Meter Reader can be installed easily and without an electrician.6 You might also try using Google PowerMeter, which can send your electricity usage data onto a website, where you can see a chart of your electricity usage history. Both water meters and power monitors are simple, useful devices that help consumers overcome the difficult task of accurately calculating their water and electricity usage only in their head. If you can, try to get one, or both installed. You just might be surprised where all that water and electricity goes… 1 http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_15430506 2 http://www.doityourself.com/stry/connecting-a-water-meter-to-your-house 3 http://www.fresno.gov/Government/DepartmentDirectory/PublicUtilities/Watermanagement/ Distribution/WaterMeterProgram/MeterPlanFAQ.htm#q8c882a9bd2c280a 4 http://www.doityourself.com/stry/2-tips-for-installing-a-water-meter-in-your-home 5 Id. 6 http://www.watthackers.com/wp/10-energy-saving-devices-to-put-your-house-on-a-diet/
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 October 2011 ) | ||||
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Green Facts
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Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.
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Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.
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American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.
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Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.
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One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
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An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!
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77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.
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Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.
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Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
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Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.
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You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.
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In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.
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Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.
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82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.
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You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.
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It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.
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Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.
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A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.
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You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.
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Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.
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For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.
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Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.
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If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.
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Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.
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Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.
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Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.
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Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
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Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months
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Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
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States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
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A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.
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A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
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A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.
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Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.
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Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.
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In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.
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Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
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Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.


