Is there a simpler way to capture and use gray water?

Actually, there is. Its a toilet-topped sink called SinkPositive (sinkpositive.com). You replace the toilets heavy porcelain lid with this sink basin, which has a built-in faucet. When you flush, fresh water comes out of the faucet and you wash your hands with it. The soapy water collects in the toilet tank for the next flush.

Forgive me for asking, but how does the SinkPositive look?

Like something you might find in a dentists office.

Whats the final step people should take?

This is probably the most important: replace old thermostats with a programmable one. Its kind of like a TiVo of thermostats. It lets you turn the heat down when you sleep and back up before you wake. It can also tell the difference between Monday and Friday, so you can turn down the heat while youre at work. A good one costs about $20, and saves about $180 a year on energy bills.

So we dont need to go home and install solar panels or put down bamboo flooring tonight? Thats a relief.

These five projects arent sexy, but everybody can do them.

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I've use a standard red brick in a ziploc baggie for years in the toiltank.  Displaces plenty to save and spare for the flush. The two liter soda bottle sounds so big. So I just now looked and a empty 2 quart ammonia bottle fits nicely in that corner of the tank.  The programmable therms are only $20? this I had no idea of. I still have mercury. That change I'll make. I draw the line at washing my hands in toilet water. For conservation or saving a buck. Lemme know how that works out. I mean it's not like one would replace the bath sink with it, right? What about the evening routine and brushing the teeth? In the toilet?

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I think it's that the ("clean") water you use to wash your hands goes into the toilet rather than just down the drain, and you then use that ("used") water to flush the toilet, and not the other way around. 

 

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 Whoa, that coulda really made for a bad start to this week. 

Psych Lit wrote:

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I saw this article in the times and started looking into the grey water systems. what a great idea this is and relatively inexpensive to install. my water rates doubled this year and ive already emailed my plumber to get back to me with some estimates for this.  there are two bathroom systems, the first uses the sink water to flush toilets but the sink is separate from the toilet. the other is some sort of sink that fits over the top of the toilet. im not sure thats a healthy idea. yanno? but still im thinking of all of the laundry water, the shower and bath water and how much might be saved if there were other ways to use it.

The Green Home

Five Beginners Steps to a Greener H

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By JULIE SCELFO

Published: March 11, 2009

A RECENT Amazon.com search for green home pulled up more than 15,000 book titles. Who has time to read them all? So this week, The Green Home tracked down Eric Corey Freed, the author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies, and asked him to distill this growing cottage industry of green advice into five must-do steps.

Whats the first and most important thing every green-minded dweller should do?

Look at all the vampire loads that are sucking energy even when youre not using them.

You mean like the toaster with a digital clock and the cellphone charger?

Yes. Anything with a ready light. Collectively, vampire loads cost Americans about $3 billion a year. The biggest culprits are stereos, DVRs, game systems and plasma TVs. Simply unplug them when theyre not in use. Or purchase smart power strips, which cost about $25 and shut off automatically.

Whats the second step for making our homes greener?

Take an empty two-liter soda bottle, wash it out, fill it with water, screw the lid on tightly and set it into your toilet tank, as far away from the flapper valve as possible. This prevents two liters of water from being used every time you flush.

Will it leave enough water for a proper flush?

A new low-flow toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush. Older toilets go up to seven gallons a flush. Two liters is only half a gallon, so theres still plenty of water left for most bathroom visits. Besides, you can always flush twice for those rare occasions when its truly needed.

Moving right along. Your third recommendation?

Install an ultra-low-flow shower head. A 1992 federal law requires all shower heads to be low flow, which means 2.5 gallons shoot out every minute its on. Switching to ultra-low-flow means you could go anywhere from two gallons all the way down to half a gallon a minute.

But hows the water pressure?

Ultra-low-flow shower heads mix outside room air into the water so the pressure is surprisingly good. The technology has really advanced. The old stigma of not having enough pressure do you remember the old Seinfeld episode where Kramer couldnt get enough water, so he switched to an elephant hose? that doesnt really apply.

So far, these projects sound really manageable. Whats No. 4?

Install a gray-water system that collects soapy water and diverts it to the toilet. Instead of clean water, you flush with soapy water. WaterSaver Technologies (watersavertech.com) makes AQUS, a $300 system that installs under the sink.

Is there a simpler way to capture and use gray water?

Actually, there is. Its a toilet-topped sink called SinkPositive (sinkpositive.com). You replace the toilets heavy porcelain lid with this sink basin, which has a built-in faucet. When you flush, fresh water comes out of the faucet and you wash your hands with it. The soapy water collects in the toilet tank for the next flush.

Forgive me for asking, but how does the SinkPositive look?

Like something you might find in a dentists office.

Whats the final step people should take?

This is probably the most important: replace old thermostats with a programmable one. Its kind of like a TiVo of thermostats. It lets you turn the heat down when you sleep and back up before you wake. It can also tell the difference between Monday and Friday, so you can turn down the heat while youre at work. A good one costs about $20, and saves about $180 a year on energy bills.

So we dont need to go home and install solar panels or put down bamboo flooring tonight? Thats a relief.

These five projects arent sexy, but everybody can do them.

---

I've use a standard red brick in a ziploc baggie for years in the toiltank.  Displaces plenty to save and spare for the flush. The two liter soda bottle sounds so big. So I just now looked and a empty 2 quart ammonia bottle fits nicely in that corner of the tank.  The programmable therms are only $20? this I had no idea of. I still have mercury. That change I'll make. I draw the line at washing my hands in toilet water. For conservation or saving a buck. Lemme know how that works out. I mean it's not like one would replace the bath sink with it, right? What about the evening routine and brushing the teeth? In the toilet?