Save Money With Green Bathroom Design & Remodeling
As more and more people are discovering, eco-friendly, or "green" bathroom design doesn't have to cost more money. In fact, there are a number of environmentally friendly bathroom fixtures and products that pay for themselves very quickly. Many of these green bathroom remodeling or retrofit projects will pay for themselves in under a year, and save you money every year after. While there are ample things you can do in your home bathroom, for the scope of this article we are going to focus on green design for commercial bathrooms.
Low Flow Faucets
The difference between standard bathroom faucets (2.5 gpm) and low flow bathroom faucets (.5 gpm) is two gallons per minute. In a commercial bathroom where the sink is on 5 minutes out of every hour, for ten hours a day, replacing a standard faucet with a low flow faucet will result in savings of around $2/day. Multiplied by 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year, the total annual savings is $624, which is $250 more than the most expensive automatic low flow faucet you can buy at Sustainable Supply. In a restroom with heavier traffic the savings will be even greater. There are also other water saving hand washing fixtures to consider, depending on the amount of traffic in your restroom, including wash fountains and Express Lavatories from Bradley.
High Speed Hand Dryers
The days of holding your hands in front of the dryer for a minute while you wait for the water to evaporate are over. Next generation high speed hand dryers use intense air jets to blow the water off your hands before evaporating the leftover moisture with heat. The result is dry hands in only 10-15 seconds, and 80% less energy used than with a conventional hand dryer. The reduction in energy used also means that energy efficient hand dryers cost 95% less than paper towels! Just think about how quickly the garbage cans in your work restroom fill up with paper. Then consider the time spent by paid employees to change the garbage bags, restock the towels, order more paper towels and garbage bags (not to mention the energy used to convert trees or old paper products into paper towels and then ship them to your company). Think about how often paper towels end up overflowing or falling on the floor. Having a green hand dryer in your work restroom is actually a morale booster. They have a super high tech feel, are fun to use and look much better than a bin full of crumpled paper towels.
Dual Flush Toilets
Dual flush toilets let users choose whether to use a "half flush" for liquid waste, or a whole flush for solid waste. The smaller flushes each save .5 gallons of water. In a typical women's room where the toilet gets 7 half flushes per hour (multiplied by 10 hours/day, 6 days/week, 2 cents/gallon), each dual flush toilet would save $218/year. With the price of our most economical dual flush retrofit handle at under $40, replacing your old valve handle would pay for itself 5+ times over in the first year.
Low Flow and Water Free Urinals
The only thing better than a low flow urinal is a "no flow" urinal - there are waterless urinals from Falcon that save up to 40,000 gallons of water (or $542/year, after the cost of waterless urinal cartridges) in high traffic restrooms (13 uses/hour at our previous numbers). Because of the different piping requirements (and the installation cost), it may make more sense to install a waterless urinal early in the green bathroom design process. If you already have urinals installed in your bathroom, a low flow retrofit flush valve may be the way to go. A low flow urinal still saves 20,000 gallons a year, so you're still looking at a savings of $400/year (without the waterless urinal cartridges to buy). With a Sloan low flow urinal flush valve retrofit kit costing less than $270, this is a great way to save money quickly.
Microfiber Cleaning Products
While the next two categories are not strictly "green bathroom remodeling or design", they are ways to make your bathroom more environmentally friendly that will impact your bottom line positively in the long run. Microfiber mops and wipes do cost more, but also last longer, and are more effective, allowing the job to be done in less time, with less cleaning solution. They also remove 99% of bacteria, compared to standard mops which remove 33%, ultimately leading to a more sanitary environment and less sick days. Over time, microfiber cleaning products will definitely save you money.
Green Cleaning Products
At Sustainable Supply, green cleaning products are very affordable and effective. Using green cleaning products leads to a healthier environment, which equals greater workplace productivity.
Green Bathrooms - Now You Know
Now that you've read this article, you no longer have any excuses. If you thought you couldn't afford to have an environmentally friendly bathroom, you can't afford NOT to have an eco-friendly bathroom. If you are doing a more extensive green bathroom remodeling project, there are other products to look into as well, including recycled toilet partitions and recycled lockers. If you have any questions about green bathroom remodeling, feel free to contact Sustainable Supply, and we will be happy to help guide you through your green bathroom design process.
|
|
|
