We are all conscious about making our environment more habitable. To do this we make our house, working place more green, eco-friendly. We try to make these places more energy saving, eco-friendly and suitable for human health. While talking about the green home, do we consider the fact that, our bathroom also needed to be eco-friendly? Well, if you are not familiar with green bathroom, then use our genuine green bathroom ideas to make it environment friendly and efficient to resource usage and waste management.
Why Do You Need to Make a Green Bathroom?
A bathroom is a place for excessive water use, overindulgent paper waste and it requires more cleaning and bathing products than any part of our house. Almost none of us are satisfied with great waste of materials and resources that happened in the bathroom. We all talk about the efficient use of resources, but no one follows. Without proper technique and guidelines, it is really hard to maintain the efficiency of bathroom resources. Moreover, some bathroom products can be highly hazardous to human health. That’s why you need green bathroom ideas to make it eco-friendly, so that bathroom users become happy with fewer resources.
Easy & Eco-Friendly Green Bathroom Ideas
Install Low-Flow, Dual Flush or Composite Toilet
A bathroom toilet is a place where around 30% of all household water is used. This is more than any single appliance of your home including shower, dishwasher and washing machine. So, replacing the old model with a new low-flow toilet is a first step to make your bathroom environment friendly. Most old toilets use around 3.5 gallons of water a day, whereas new low-flow models use only a fraction of that water.
There are other options as well if you are not satisfied with the low-flow one. You can choose a modern dual flush toilet. These toilets offer two flush volumes, such as reduced flush volume for liquid waste and a full flush volume for solidified human waste. You can also install a composite toilet for modern green bathroom design. These toilets are eco-friendly in a sense that they use only a little or no water at all.
Install Motion Sensor Faucet
It is estimated that more than 1 trillion of water is consumed by a single household each year. After the toilet, the bathroom sink is the place where water is mostly wasted because of carefree usage. Did you ever think how much water you waste every day when you go for washing your hands? A motion sensor based water faucet and equipment can save more than 30% of water without hindering the performance.
According to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), by using water efficient faucets, the nation can save up to 350 million USD per year in water bills. So, what do you think? Isn’t it the time to replace the old sink and faucets with new ones!
Install Water-Efficient Tubs and Low-Flow Shower
In the United States, around 17% of all household water is consumed in the shower. Also, household users use more than 1.5 trillion gallons of water every year only for showering purposes. So, to stop a potential water crisis shortly, household owners need to be aware than ever.
A low-flow shower head can be an ideal solution. While a typical shower uses 5 to 7 liters of water per minute, a low-flow shower head uses only 2.5 liters of water with similar water pressure.
There are two benefits of using a low-flow shower head; one is saving water, and the other is the amount of electricity used to heat water. Manufacturers claim that a low-flow shower head can save hundreds of dollars of water and electricity bill. Moreover, this is an inexpensive and easy upgrade for most of the households.
Change Light Bulbs
If you have not upgraded your bulbs to LEDs, it is now perfect time to do it. LED light bulbs are now available in regular shape rather than just spindle-shaped ones; they were used to be. They also offer warm lights that were found in old incandescent bulbs but consume 80% less energy than its predecessor. LED light bulbs also last around 25 times longer without sacrificing the lumens, light quality or brightness. The rated lifespan of an LED bulb is around 25000 hours.
Switch to Energy Efficient Ventilation System
How can ventilation be energy efficient? If your bathroom consists of one or two vent fans to keep the air clean and moisture free, you can cut down energy uses by switching to Energy Star rated vent fans. It’s an easy replacement you can cut around 60% energy compared to the ordinary fans.
Buy Toxic Free, Sustainable Countertops, and Flooring
Another easy way to remodel the bathroom to a green bathroom is to use recycled, toxic free and sustainable materials for flooring and countertops. For flooring, the materials can be bamboo, cork or certified hard wood. As a toxic-free material, vinyl flooring can be an ideal choice.
For countertops use granite, stone or glass materials. You can also consider purchasing salvaged countertops from a building material selling store. These materials are non-toxic, durable, environment friendly and can make a distinct design and outlook if placed wisely.
For making mint colored Seafoam green bathroom, you can consider buying Seafoam products. They offer great pricing with quality materials.
Use Sustainable, eco-Friendly Bath Products
From hand soap to bath towels, all the bath products you use in your bathroom can be chosen wisely to make a perfect green bathroom. Buying certified organic products not only ensures a green bathroom but also provides quality care to body and skin. Ordinary bath products are made with petrochemicals and other toxic materials like parabens which cause serious health damage if used for a longer time.
Use Homemade Cleaning Products
A lot of studies showed that traditional harsh cleaning products could be highly detrimental to human health. So, what is the solution as cleaning is must job for any bathroom? The solution here is to use homemade cleaning products. Don’t worry! You have everything under the cupboard of your kitchen to make perfect cleaning products.
To clean your bathroom more effectively use baking soda and vinegar. Simply spatter little amount of baking soda and add white vinegar. Massage the area to make foam and keep it there for 5 to 10 minutes. Now scrub the area and wash with clean water. You can also add oils such as lavender, tree or rosemary oil for antibacterial and antiseptic properties and great smells.
Final Words
Making a green bathroom is no less important than making your living room eco-friendly. By making a green bathroom you can save hundreds of dollars of utility bills. These bathrooms are also more heath friendly compared to traditional bathrooms. However, making a bathroom eco-friendly is not costly or hard work. All that required will power and proper technique. We believe that the above techniques can help in to make your dream green bathroom. You can also make a mint green bathroom with mint colored eco-friendly materials if the color is also important to you.
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