Ms. Power Plug: June 2008 - Santa Clara Weekly

Question: How much money can I really save by conserving water in my home? A few cents here and there doesn’t excite me much.

Answer: My Aunt Mabel used to pull the “penny saved, penny earned” quote on me every once in a while, but you’re right, today it just doesn’t hold water. But what if you can save hundreds of dollars a year in water and energy costs and help preserve a precious resource with a few simple water conservation tricks?

The average California household uses about 5,900 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year, and it takes almost as much power to deliver water to that household. That’s mostly because our largest water sources are located far away, and water has to be pumped over mountains, through valleys, to treatment facilities, to our homes and back again.

Anyone who’s been thumped with a water balloon knows water is heavy. The California Energy Commission says a five-person household uses about an acre-foot of water a year, which weighs 1,400 tons. Now, if you total all the California households it adds up to 8.8 million acre-feet of water a year, which comes to…wow...12.3 billion tons of water pumping around our state. Imagine the energy it takes to keep it all flowing!

What with climate change and increasing demands from a growing population affecting water supply, it makes sense to talk about preserving water.

Singing in the shower sounds lots better with the water off, so soaping up with the water off not only is a musical treat but saves around three to four gallons a minute. And keeping showers to five minutes or less - well, you get the picture. Heating your water gulps up 15% to 25% of your home energy, making inefficient hot water use a triple whammy, wasting energy, water - and your money.

Old toilets use about six gallons per flush and a leaky toilet can waste more than 10,000 gallons a year. If you need to toss that old water-guzzler and invest in a new one, you can get up to a $125 cash rebate (visit www.valleywater.org or call (408) 265-2607, ext. 2554).

Another way to cut down is by using easy-to-install low flow shower heads and faucet aerators, which you can get free from the water district (yep, valleywater.org).

In the kitchen, why wash dishes by hand when your Energy Star® dishwasher uses less water? Let the dishes air dry for even more energy savings. (By the way, using your microwave for heating water or cooking uses 66% less energy than doing the same on your stove.)

You wouldn’t go away and leave your air conditioning or heat on at the house while you’re gone, right? The same goes for your water heater. Turn the thermostat down to “vacation” or its lowest setting. Otherwise your water heater will turn on regularly while you’re gone. Sipping an umbrella drink on a beach thinking of those dollars burning away back home is not my idea of relaxation.

Also, if you have an electric water heater, or a gas heater with an electronic igniter, you can use an electric timer to turn it on an hour or so before you need it and off again at night or when you’re not home. Talk with your handyman or do-it-yourself store expert to learn if you need a heavy-duty timer, and the heater needs to plug into a wall socket for this to work. Even if you needed a little hot water while it’s off, the tank will still provide hot water.

Pumping water to us, treating it and using it accounts for almost one-fifth of all the energy used in the state. It may not seem like much – but just think – if you, Aunt Mabel and just 48 other Santa Clara customers each saved a measly 30 gallons of water a day, that’s 45,000 gallons in a month or 540,000 gallons in a year – now that’s energy and water conservation, plus saves money that you can use to buy that lounge chair you’ve had your eye on!