Thinking about greening your bathroom means thinking about how to use water in terms of consumption and energy. According to the American Water Industry Association, your humble toilet is the hottest user in your house, accounting for 27% of your consumption. This fact has inspired conservation programs, such as placing toilet tanks in toilets to reduce flushing capacity, and low flow toilets that often do not flush.

A more successful approach is a double flush toilet. It has two flush buttons, one for light work and one for heavy duty. For a long time, the price of double flush toilet is between 250RMB and 400RMB in the United States, which is in line with the high-quality conventional toilet. Double flush toilets can save 17000 kg of water per year - about 50 RMB in water charges. If you want to keep your old toilet (a very green decision), you can retrofit it with a dual flush machine for only 70 RMB.

The shower is another sailor. Showers use 16% to 20% of household water, most of which are heated. The flow rate of a typical sprinkler is 2.5kg/min. With a low flow head of 1.5 to 2kg per minute, it still provides enough cleaning capacity and greatly saves water consumption. (if you cherish a truly powerful hot water explosion, consider a full flow shower nozzle and lever, so that you close it while you bubble.)

In addition to saving water, you should also carefully observe how the water is heated. Next to the kitchen, the bathroom is the most intensive energy user in your home, and most of it goes to the nice hot shower and bathtub. Curbing wasted energy can be as simple as adding an insulating blanket to a tank heater (reducing energy consumption by 4% to 9%), and isolating all accessible hot water pipes. In addition, most water heaters are set to 140 degrees; you can reduce the water heater temperature setting to 120 degrees, saving up to 60 RMB per year in energy costs.

If your old water heater is nearing the end of its 15 year life cycle and you are considering investing in a new water heater, you can save some considerable energy savings. One smart option is a condensing water heater. Using a technology similar to an efficient furnace, the condensing heater puts almost all possible BTUs into the water rather than into the flue. At present, the cost of a 50kg gas turbine is 1700rmb (compared with 380RMB for standard tank heater). It is expected that the price will drop with the increase of demand. The installation cost is about 400 RMB, slightly higher than the standard unit. These higher costs are offset by a tax credit of 300 RMB and annual fuel savings estimated by EPA of more than 100 RMB.

Tank less water heaters only heat water when needed to avoid heat loss in conventional tanks. The cost of a unit is about 2000 RMB, and your annual energy saving will be 70 RMB per year. Please note that these units require some habits; a cold spell is expected before the hot kick.