Home Closet Organization - Declutter Your Home Now »
Reflect your concern for the earth with these 5 easy tips for your kitchen
May 3rd, 2009 by admin
How to Install a Low-flow Faucet Aerator
You may have noticed, but the choice to be green doesn’t have to burn a hole in your wallet. It can be as boring as putting a $2.99 faucet accessory. Remember, it’s easy to make more expensive mistakes if you don’t spend some time on research in the beginning. Many manufacturers label their product as “earth friendly” or “green” but there are no government standards in place currently to define what makes an item eco-friendly or not.
Follow these 5 tips to assist you on your journey to create a kitchen that will save you money, give you a fresh new look, & save the world all at once:
1. Buy a low-flow water faucet/aerator
• Why: A shiny new faucet is a simple upgrade, but kitchen faucets can vary from 1.5 – 4 gallons per minute in the amount of water that come from them. Low-flow bathroom faucets with the Environmental Protection Agency’s new WaterSense label are about 30 percent more efficient than older models.
• Simple Eco Upgrade: Until the government comes up with some industry standard for low-flow kitchen faucets, for $3 to $11 you can make most new or existing taps more efficient simply by attaching an aerator. These simple devices save water plus lower utility bills as well, because less hot water is consumed. Because of this, low-flow aerators will generally pay for themselves in just a couple of months.
• Cons: With lower flow, it might take a bit longer to fill that 2 gallon pot for spaghetti night.
• Suggested Purchase: Look for a gallon per minute rating of less than 2 gallons per minute or GPM (some are as high as 4 GPM). Many Kohler faucets offer an aerator option that can reduce the GPM rate by about 25 percent. When buying aerators, keep in mind, some of them are available with more than one water speed setting. Keep the aerator on the slow speed when using the sink for typical use and set it to high speed to fill up big pans with water. Another green choice is a hands-free faucet, like the Danze Parma D421058, $480 or other low-flow Danze faucets.
• Keep in Mind: When you find a faucet that fits your budget and style, make sure it has a lifetime warranty that covers stains and water-wasting leaks. Also, some kitchen aerators will allow you to flip between two flow rates without affecting the water temperature
2. Switch to low wattage lighting
• Why: Modern kitchens can use up to 2,000 watts for lighting (especially track lighting) because standard incandescent, halogen, and xenon lights are energy vacuums. All that excess heat radiating from lights might motivate you to turn down the A/C to cool things off.
• Simple Eco Upgrade: Switch to cool-burning compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in your fixtures, and also consider adding some LED or fluorescent under cabinet task lighting. This simple DIY fix costs about $199 for 5 fluorescent fixtures.
• Cons: A handful of CFLs and LEDs cast a bluish or other odd color light. Before you buy, ask if you can return the fixture if you don’t like the way the light looks with your décor. Better yet, try the brand new light in your local Ace Hardware or ask an associate for their opinion.
• Suggested Purchase: Strips are the most common type of task lighting, round “hockey puck” lights are best for casting pools of light onto a counter and linear lights are best if you need more versatile fixtures. Both circle “puck” light fictures and linear lights can be included with LEDs.
• Keep in Mind: If your cabinets don’t have a built-in valence to hide task lighting, either add one or choose a fixture with a sleek housing that’s not as noticeable."
Link
No comments:
Post a Comment