Saturday, March 8, 2008
Aerators: Your Cheapest Tool for Energy Efficient Kitchens
Art by Liza Lou
Here's a green remodeling tip that is both easy to implement and extremely inexpensive.
Whether you're building a new kitchen or just updating your fixtures and faucets, be sure to ask your contractor to use aerators for the sink. According to one of the best sites on the web for energy and water conservation, H2Ouse:
The water, wastewater, and energy saving benefits you get from installing new faucet aerators is primarily determined by your current aerators. But since faucet aerators are cheap and the water savings are well documented, it’s a safe bet that you will pay for your aerator investment in less than two years.
The main thing to keep in mind is that an aerator on it's own should cost between $5 and $15, but in this day and age, most of the major plumbing and fixture manufacturers have gotten the message, and now build them into the faucets themselves.
For those interested in the specs, all faucet aerators manufactured in the U.S. must use 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm) or less.
