Wondering what other function your toilet could possibly perform? Hand-washing, of course. Not in the bowl, silly! On the lid!

With this Real Goods Toilet Lid Sink, you can cut water consumption by washing your hands in this nifty add-on sink. When you flush, this gadget directs clean water to a sink on the lid of your toilet for hand-washing. Once you’ve washed your hands, the water drains into the toilet tank to complete the flush.

Think of it as a mini-greywater recycling modification to your toilet. According to Real Goods, it installs easily without tools. Each unit is made from porcelain-like plastic and retails for $89 USD.

(Image Source: RealGoods.com)

Over the past season I’ve become intimately acquainted with my right-hand water fixture. Nope, I didn’t have the flu and yep - my pipes are in great shape. Instead of a sickly me hanging over the toilet bowl, a curious me tinkered around with the twoflush toilet conversion kit by Alberta company Aquanotion.

Toilets & Water Conservation

Eco-rhetoric calls on us all to meditate upon the final destination of our sewage post-flush. But there’s only so much meditating one can do without a bit of plumbing experience. Environment Canada tells us that our ‘retro style’ 18 litre toilets slurp up “30 000 litres of clean, fresh water per year just to get rid of 650 litres of body waste” while newer 6 litre models sip only a third of that to do the same job.

To Upgrade or to Retrofit

The water savings alone are enough to make anyone want to dump old faithful for a younger more evolved comparable. And though it was a tough decision, I committed to making it work with my current throne. Just think of all those old toilets piled up in the dumpster. I know what you’re thinking, but sadly not everyone wants a toilet planter in their yard.

(Image credit: Becky’s Public Gallery)

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Get an instant $50 subsidy on the purchase an eligible low-flow / dual-flush toilet from Home Depot on Saturday, September 6th and Sunday, September 7th from 9am to 5pm. Bring in your water bill to prove eligibility and the City of Calgary will remove the paper work. Toilet manufactures will be on hand to answer you questions and how-to work shops will be offered. See in store for additional savings on other low flow fixtures and appliances such as showerheads, faucets and front-loading washing machines. More information about the sale and eligible toilets can be found at www.calgary.ca/waterservices or by calling 3-1-1.

-Information Courtesy of Clean Calgary Association.

When summer comes around, you can bet that your fellow sun-deprived Canadian neighbours will as good as live outside. Come June and July, the home extends out the front and back doors for meals, mowing, and if you’re lucky, for meditating in that macrame hammock you bought in Mexico four Januarys ago.

In my part of the country, we’ve already had three generations of thistles and dandelions bloom and seed, and the hip-high quack grass has already grown back to calf-height since it’s last battle with the weed whacker.

If you’ve been tempted to reach for a chemical solution you are not alone. So many of us are prone to that deep-seated yearning for the perfect lawn and yard. But, when you take a step back and look at that thing they call ‘perspective’, a few (hundred) yellow flowers and some broadleaf grass ain’t gonna kill ya. But weed killer might.

As you’re contemplating life’s greater issues in that hammock, why not ponder the Grist’s Three-step Greener Yard Guide. You might even come up with a few kid-friendly activities around weeds and the outdoors.

And wouldn’t you know it, weeds can do you and the planet a few favours. They can prevent soil erosion, offer food and habitat for beneficial insects and wildlife, enrich the nutrients in your soil (depending on species), and in my case, camouflage my strawberry patch so that the birds don’t devour all the berries! After all, a weed is nothing more than a plant that grows where you’d rather not have it.

Resources

How to Green Your Yard

Dandelion Coffee Recipe

Other Dandelion Recipes *Important Notes: Do NOT consume your weeds if you have use pesticides in your yard.

Red Clover Recipes

Dandelion Crafts and Activities

Yet another wondrous eco-invention comes to us via Treehugger, and it brings water conservation to the micro level!

Picture yourself the proud new owner of this umbrella pot, as you complacently harvest the sprinkle from your soggy umbrella for your frizzy tuft of turf, while preventing the sloshy return of the mop bucket.

According to Clean Calgary, an award-winning eco non-profit group, using a commercial car wash is greener than spraying the jalopy down in the driveway. Home style carwashes, they say, cause soap, sediment, oil and other chemicals to enter the water system untreated where they have a real impact on aquatic ecosystems.

By contrast, commercial car washes send their wastewater to be properly treated. Believe it or not, commercial car washes are more water efficient than home car washes. See the original article on Clean Calgary’s web site.

But, if your car is spotless save for a few bird bombs, a simple spot clean will do.

Have you ever cleaned out your eavestroughs? I haven’t, but it’s on my mind with each and every spring shower we get. I live in a mature neighbourhood where elm-lined boulevards offer plenty of shade, comfort and neighbourhood allure. Chances are, my gutters are caked with elm leaves and debris from, gulp, the past five years.

From a green point of view, proper home maintenance and care is key. When we protect our homes from wear and damage, we make them last longer and delay repair and replacement, both of which require money, energy and new materials to be used. Home maintenance is all about durability, prevention, and quite often, safety. And, it’s always cheaper to maintain something than it is to fix or replace it.

Keeping the Clutter out of Your Gutters
In the vein of prevention, there are ways to keep your eaves troughs from piling up with muck. It’s about working smarter, not harder. Gutter screens or guards are typically made of plastic or metal screening, and install without much hassle. Look for them at your local hardware store, or find a company from the yellow pages. If you lack the time, tools, or the will to do the job yourself, there’s many a local company that will welcome your business.

Greener Gutters in Toronto & Calgary

Our fortunate neighbours in these two cities can now fit their gutters with U.S.-made RainTube, which is simply a corrugated perforated plastic tube that accepts the rain and turfs the rest. Although it does not carry an independent green certification, it is Greenspec listed, made from 100% recycled material, tested to last 100 years and recyclable, say RainTube manufacturers.

Until the product is offered elsewhere in Canada, the rest of us will be left scooping out the sludge or installing typical screens. Business opportunity, anyone?

(Image Source: RainTube)

Resources

How to Clean Your Gutters

RainTube

CMHC Seasonal Maintenance Schedule

They say that if you have to flush a toilet more than once, it’s not green. Very true, but even your sturdy stain-free toilet could be a draining more than you think in a single flush. According to Green Living Online contributor Liam McCann, “If your toilet is pre-1991, it uses 9 litres (2.38 gallons) of water. Models between 1991 and 2001 use 7.5 litres (1.98 gallons).”

Low Flow’s the Way to Go
Besides yard-related water use, your toilet is the biggest culprit when it comes to household water consumption. Plus, Environment Canada soberly reminds us that 40% of all toilets leak. ‘But if I go low-flow, will I have to flush twice?’ you ask. After all, a toilet that doesn’t work well is of very little use to anyone.

Fortunately, water stakeholders from the US and Canada partnered in 2003 to give us the Maximum Performance (MaP) Testing Program, a performance test that tells you which toilets (including low-flow ones) work the best. It’s handy tables will help you filter the high-performance models that clear 1000 grams of waste in one low flush, from those that clear only 250 grams. With MaP as a guide, you’ll also be able to narrow down your choices by brand and toilet type. Choose from gravity flush, vacuum assisted, pressure assisted, single, and dual flush options ranging from 1.1 - 1.6 gallons per flush. And now, the 2008 MaP update is available for your toilet selection pleasure.

When Nature Calls for Style and Comfort
If you’re someone who likes to tote the latest newspaper or mag to the loo, aesthetics and er…gonomics will rank higher in your priorities. So, when replacing your toilet be sure to double check that the footprint of the new model matches or fully covers your current toilet for fear of revealing the grungy lino of yesteryear.

Some folks also like to flush in peace, meaning you might not want to feel like you’re in an airplane bathroom after each daily duty. Especially if you or a family member suffers from what my father likes to call ‘TB’ - Tiny Bladder’. It keeps you flushing through the night.

Toilet Rebates
With so many rebates available from government, utility, and even business sponsored programs, the timing for toilet replacement has never been better. At a minimum, Natural Resources Canada’s EcoEnergy Retrofit program will snag you $50 per unit replaced. Add that rebate bonus to your water bill savings, and you’ll wish you’d upgraded your toilets sooner.

Resources

Green Your Throne -by Liam McCann, Green Living Online

Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) - Maximum Performance Testing of Popular Toilet Models 11th Edition (January 2008) available as well as other publications

CMHC Dual-flush Toilet Testing

Luc and Cheryl Gobeil exude an air of simplicity and normalcy as we tour the new off-grid home in St. Paul County, Alberta, that Luc designed and built for them over three summers. To design and build a house is an amazing feat for someone without a builder’s background, but to be responsible for the eye-catching 3200 square foot, built to last three centuries home we now sit in is nothing short of extraordinary. Still, the couple maintains that with extensive planning and research, building a green home just like the one at Sun Forged Acres is achievable for any green-enthused John or Jane Doe. I am left with a secret inner smile- there is hope for the lot of us!

“Why the fixation on such a long lifetime for the building?” I ask. Luc and Cheryl inform me that as original occupants of this home, they have the ability and therefore the responsibility to reduce the amount of waste it generates and to use the Earth’s resources wisely. Essentially, in nearly four generations, most of the home’s components will require far fewer replacements compared with a typical home. Luc and Cheryl will also be able to answer to their grandchildren when asked if they did their part to address current air pollution, climate change, and water scarcity challenges. Read the rest of this entry »