I’ve been testing the Air Jet showerhead, and so far I’ve been impressed. This is low-flow showerhead, but it creates a high pressure shower experience using simple physics.
Reduce Your Household Water Use Efficiently
May 14, 2010 by 15 Comments
Reducing household water usage has big-time benefits for both homeowners and for the environment: reducing strain on local water resources, cutting demand on wastewater treatment facilities, and lowering both water and sewage utility bills, to name a few. Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, we’ve put together a collection of water-saving tips… [Continue Reading]
2010 Review Of Tankless Water Heaters
January 11, 2009 by 82 Comments
Tankless water heaters have been used in Europe and Asia for 50 years, and they are gaining popularity in the US. Right now they represent about 8% of new sales in the US. Tankless heaters, also called on-demand, flash or instant water heaters, qualify for a $300 federal tax credit. How efficient are tankless water… [Continue Reading]
Storing Sunshine Using Flow Batteries
July 17, 2007 by 2 Comments
Flow batteries are a unique kind of battery — they have tanks that hold hundreds of gallons of the chemicals, called electrolytes. Flow batteries just happen to be very good at storing solar or wind power. Renewable power sources suffer from being intermittent, and less reliable for continuous power supply than coal or gas. Neither… [Continue Reading]
Australian Island Using Flow Batteries To Store Wind Power
April 5, 2007 by 4 Comments
King Island is a small island off the Australian coast, near Tasmania. King Island isn’t connected to the mainland power grid, and apart from its own small wind farm it relied for a long time on diesel generators for its electricity. That changed in 2003 when the local utility company installed a mammoth rechargeable battery… [Continue Reading]
Berkey Light Gravity-Flow Water Filter
January 23, 2006 by Leave a Comment
Gravity filters are more effective than other types of water filter, because the water drips slowly through the ceramic elements, and this process removes almost all the contaminants in water. The filters can be cleaned with a toothbrush and last for up to 2,000 gallons. This Berkey Light filter uses Black Berkey elements, and they… [Continue Reading]
The Best Low-Flow Toilets
August 29, 2005 by 1 Comment
Early on, low-flow toilets got a bad rap — and justifiably so — their flushing ability left a lot to be desired. But today there are many low-flow toilets on the market that work well. Terry Love is a plumber who reviews low-flow toilets. He takes his job seriously, installing some of the toilets his… [Continue Reading]
Faucet Restrictors/Aerators
May 27, 2005 by 4 Comments
Have you ever spent time at the sink, judiciously adjusting the hot and cold water, to achieve that happy medium between “cold” and “scalding hot”? Well, we’ve been there too — and we’ve noticed that water streams down the sink in a meta-inefficient manner. That’s why these faucet restrictors are so handy. They attach like… [Continue Reading]
Water Saving Shower Head: “Earth Massage”
August 16, 2004 by 7 Comments
This was my first low-flow showerhead, and it’s still one of my favorites. The Earth Massage showerhead produces a fine spray or pulsing jet but only uses 1.75 gallons per minute. It works consistently in both low and high water pressures. A “soak and soap” button reduces the flow rate to 1.0 gpm for soaping… [Continue Reading]
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