Share your water-saving tips with @AderaHome and @hummingbird604
As you can imagine, it’s always nice when I get pitched something that fits my blog. Given that I do research on water and sustainability, this kind of contest fits what I do. Recently, I found out that Adera is launching a new boutique townhome development in North Vancouver: seven35. The 60 stacked townhomes are already under construction at 735 West 15th Street across the lane from Adera’s NoMa, named for its location on North Vancouver’s Marine Drive. Sales are expected to begin in May.
All seven35 homes will offer a guaranteed EnerGuide rating of 82 or higher, as well as sustainable features including Energy Star windows and appliances, motion sensor light switches, fluorescent light fixtures, low-VOC paints, low-flow faucets, water-efficient irrigation and future photovoltaic capacity for solar cells. Seven35 will also have one of the first installations of a ‘building size’ wastewater heat recovery system.
Homes will start from under $300,000 and range in size from 450-square-foot bachelor “crashpads” to just over 1,000-square-foot two-storey townhomes with two bedrooms. The target market for seven35 is a similar demographic to NoMa purchasers: young professionals from 25 to 40, many of whom grew up in North Vancouver. The location offers both urban amenities along Marine Drive two blocks south and access to the outdoors with Mosquito Creek Park and the Trans Canada Trail across the lane to the west.
To promote their new development (and highlight the sustainability features of their seven 35 homes) Adera has given me a prize to give away to one lucky reader. The winner will receive a Deep Cove Explorer Kayak package for two from Deep Cove Canoe and Kayak, valued at $175. This is a 3 hour relaxing guided paddle where you will explore Deep Cove and the southern part of Indian Arm. Beverage and snack are included.
I asked a bit more about ADERA’s sustainable construction practices and this is what they told me:
– Any water needing to be discharged from site required to pass through sediment control pond to separate dirt and potential pollutants before entering drainage system. During excavation, erosion reduced by placing protective covering over bank to protect sediment in rainwater.
– Use truck washes with larger boulders and bumps to knock off dirt before entering wash which consumes less water and less issues with run-off water.
– One designated toilet onsite during construction that is resealed after project completion to save water.
– Wheel wash to protect salmon spawn habitat at GREEN development in Burnaby.
To enter my giveaway (active until March 22nd at 5pm), you can either drop a comment on this post with a water saving tip that you are actually right now implementing, or that you are planning to implement. To earn a second entry you can tweet the following
I told @hummingbird604 and @aderahome my water-saving tips to enter to win a Deep Cove kayak experience. What’s yours? http://ow.ly/4hGTU
Hopefully you will be saving a lot of water for World Water Day, whose theme is Water for Cities!
Well as simple as this sounds, don’t cook with added oil/grease. You need less energy for hot water to clean the dishes covered in oil and we save the water system of this sludge. Cook with steam, in fact you can sauté with water but there is a trick to it. Keep left over bacon grease in the fridge and re-use and never pour down the drain with hot water to dissolve it.
Anyway… one way.
Water metering! We have metered water and it really does make me and my neighbours think about water and decrease water use.
We use a Brita water container which we put in the fridge. So instead of running the tap until the water is cold enough to drink, we take it from the fridge.
Run the clothes washer and dishwasher only when they are full.
I do not let the water run while brushing my teeth.
We use a Brita water jug and keep it in the fridge. Also, we only ever run the washing machine with full loads and handwash dishes even though we have a dishwasher at home.
At our cabin we have a dual flush toilet. Here we have a front loading washing machine and only wash full loads (of which we have many).
We have dual flush toilets in our home, energy saving shower head and use our dishwasher only when it is full!
Good timing, this has been one of my goals of the past year or so and I have already taken several initiatives and am on the verge of the next steps as well.
So far:
– I have installed a low-flow showerhead and have a 4-minute timer that suction-cups to the wall in the shower. While I don’t always finish by the time the sand finishes falling, it still motivates me to hurry it up and get done.
– Similar to others above, I have gone the Brita route which reduces both my tap running and plastic bottle usage.
– I am mindful to save up dishes and laundry until I can make a full load of either one, saving water and electricity/gas.
– My fave tip: Shower for two. OK, the savings are questionable some days, but it sure is fun! 😉
And to the future: I am currently investigating my options for new toilets and faucets throughout my entire home. It’s time to update and I definitely will be incorporating efficiency into my purchases. I already found out that the Township of Langley has a program to provide rebates to those who purchase low-flow toilets.
Cheers!
When I wash dishes by hand, I put 1-2 inches of water in the sink to start. I wash and then when I rinse (over the same sink as I wash), it fills up the sink a little more each rinse.
Only run dishwasher on a full load.
I also use a Brita.
My water-saving tip is pretty basic: shut the water off when you’re brushing your teeth. Don’t let it run while you’re scrubbing away.
This is a post right up my alley! We always install low-flow shower heads, and take quick showers too. Even keeping cold jugs of water in the fridge so we don’t rub water until it gets cold from the tap helps! I like to be a bit of a water warrior and spread the news about all things water related when I can. This is a great contest and it is fantastic to read about new developments that are taking the initiative to build responsibly.
I try to be mindful of how long I take while showering, because I would love to take super long showers, but I try to limit them. Also, just washing full loads of laundry. Also, I prefer to handwash my dishes to save water.
This would be a wonderful experience to win! The perfect way to celebrate my boyfriend’s completion (and so much hard work!) of his Masters thesis.
My water-saving tip and practice is this: when I boil eggs/vegetables in water, I do not throw out that water after. I re-use it a few more times when I boil more food later on or for herbal tea (it’s not like the water tastes like eggs or vegetables!).
My tip is to only run dishwasher/laundry machine when they are full.
I limit my showers to 3 minutes.
All the good tips have been mentioned! I was going to suggest quick showers, that saves a lot of water.
I guess just be conscious of when you use water.
UPDATE – The winner of a randomized set of responses is Linday – congratulations! Send me an email please?