Letter from the Manager
Recycling Industry Offers Recession-Proof Investing
So, is gardening over your head?
The (Possible) Perils of Being Thirsty While Being Green
Water Savings in the Pipeline

Letter from the Manager

Welcome to the fall and more importantly the season of the US Presidential election. We will not suggest which candidate we think you should pick but we hope whomever wins will have the sense to realize that the world is changing and the protocol of the past 100 years ruled largely by petrochemicals cannot continue in the 21st century.

The future of energy supply must contain a mix of many alternatives including wind, solar photovoltaic, solar concentrated collection, solar water heating, hydro, nuclear, tidal, steam, bio-fuels, hydrogen, and others yet to be put into commercial use. Sadly coal, gas, and oil will certainly be a part of the future but should be an ever-decreasing percent of the total requirement.

We urge you to seriously consider in your preparation for voting, which candidate will realize that the future of power must be flexible and broad. This consideration should really reach down to the local level as well. You may want to ask your state and local candidates how they feel about the best ways to power our lives. We hope you make the correct choice for the benefit of us all. But please VOTE. This privilege is one thing that makes America great!

This edition of Green Topics offers a reprint of how money can be made in alternative energy investing, “Recycling Industry Offers Recession-Proof Investing.”
“So is gardening over your head” offers a unique approach by an urbanite to  gardening in the city. Do you re-use water bottles like we do here on occasion and wonder if it is safe, “The possible perils of being safe while being green” will help you decide.
The EPA has a new program Watersense that promotes water saving, “Water savings in the Pipeline” will help you digest this new initiative.

Green Topics is an attempt for us to offer you reprints of articles pertinent to our cause that you might not see in your normal reading. An archive of past Green Topics is available. Conserv-A-Store does not always endorse the opinions mentioned in these articles but we do find the subject matter interesting for discussion.

Thanks for reading and for your continued support of Conserv-A-store,
Porter
General Manager

Recycling Industry Offers Recession-Proof Investing

By Rona Fried, Ph.D.
Solar Today
July/August 2008

High oil prices, a volatile stock market and a recession make this a tough time to be an investor. But there's a little known bright spot on the market that actually benefits from high oil prices - the Recycling Industry.

In fact, the Recycling Industry offers investors one of the few ways to profit during the current recession, according to a report released by Progressive Investor, "Investing in Recycling."

"Ever escalating energy prices, commodity price inflation and scarcity, and global environmental concerns have coalesced into a "perfect storm" for the industry," says Eric Prouty, Senior Energy Analyst, Cannacord Adams.

Many people aren't aware of the central role the recycling industry plays these days. It has become a backbone of our economy, pulling in $236 billion in revenues last year and employing over a million people. The industry accounted for about 2% the U.S. gross domestic product in 2007.

At the current rate of resource depletion, especially from emerging economies like China, the world literally can no longer satisfy demand for paper and steel from virgin materials alone. Recycling has become an absolute necessity for industrial growth and stability. We couldn't print a newspaper, build a car, or ship a product in a cardboard box without recycled materials.

"Although we usually think of the benefits of recycling as reducing waste and protecting forests and habitats from mining and clear cutting," says Rona Fried, editor of Progressive Investor, "it is also a key solution for climate change. Making new materials from old ones is a classic example of energy efficiency - it vastly reduces the amount of energy (and resulting emissions) required to support our economy."

For example, making aluminum from scrap uses 96% less energy than from virgin minerals, while making iron and steel from scrap requires 74% less energy. Two thirds of the steel produced in U.S. is now made from recycled materials. Making paper from recycled stock requires 36 % less energy and far fewer chemicals. In 2005, 51% of paper products came from recycled sources. Plastic is the laggard. Although reusing old plastic requires 80 % less energy, only 17 % of new plastics is recycled. Nearly all plastics are derived from petroleum, so $135 oil ought to drive a rapid ramp-up of plastic recycling.

Recycled materials are a key feature in green buildings. Countertops can be made from recycled glass; flooring from recycled glass, rubber and plastic; plumbing and wiring from recycled copper; structural steel from recycled scrap; insulation and carpeting from recycled plastic.

The added benefit to investing in recycling companies is access to mid- and large-cap companies that are much less volatile investments than pure renewable energy companies.

The real action is in industrial recycling, which has evolved far beyond municipal waste-recycling practices. Over the past decade businesses have come to rely on recycling to reduce the costs of energy, raw materials and waste stream processing. Rising demand for raw materials means that recycling is a potential profit center, helping companies to achieve competitive advantage and profitability.

Recycling isn’t new, of course. Americans grew up with scrap yards that recycle car parts and crush whole cars for smelting. As school kids, we participated in paper drives, so we know about paper recycling. But modern technology has created entirely new categories of recyclable products. The proliferation of cell phones, iPods and other small gadgets, which often have a two-year life cycle, has made electronics the fastest growing waste stream worldwide. When the United States shits to digital-only television in 2009, as many as 100 million TV’s may quickly become obsolete.

Unbelievably, about 70 percent of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead in United States landfills seep out of dumped electronics, according to the EPA. And 80 percent of e-waste is shipped to Asia and Africa, where it is simply dumped after the metals are salvaged.

In the United States, 35 states have banned electronics from landfills, setting the stage for the emerging e-cycling industry. According to the International Association of Electronics Recyclers, several large recyclers and about 400 small recyclers have achieved a 60 percent recycling rate, recovering about 900 million pounds of materials annually. They predict the industry will process 3 billion pounds a year by 2010.

In 2003 the European Union passed two major laws – the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) – which require e-cycling and green product design to minimize hazardous chemicals and waste. Among other things, the rules call for “product take-back,” which means that the manufacturer is responsible for recycling the product when the consumer has finished with it. Design engineers therefore need to maximize the use of recyclable materials in the original product. In the United States, manufacturers are just getting serious about product take-back.

Progressive Investor identifies the following trends benefiting the Recycling Industry:

• The higher energy costs go, the more economically valuable are recycled materials. Example: energy accounts for 20-30% of the cost to make metals such as aluminum and zinc.
• Metal prices are rising sharply from strong demand - partly from growth in India and China - creating strong economic incentives to recycle all kinds of metals
• Recycling benefits from the attention to climate change for its ability to reduce the energy intensity of manufacturing and methane generated by landfill waste.
• Growing recognition that natural resources are scarce, finite, and increasingly expensive to mine. Example: virgin copper and zinc supplies could be completely exhausted within decades.
• Rising concerns about pollution from discarded electronics

The report profiles the World's Top Recycling Stocks, including:

• Casella Waste Systems (Nasdaq: CWST): regional solid waste company; strong focus on recycling.
• Metalico (AMEX: MEA): small cap metals recycler.
• Schnitzer Steel (Nasdaq: SCHN): vertically integrated scrap metal recycler and steel manufacturer.
• LKQ Corp (Nasdaq: LKQX ): dominates the U.S. automotive replacement parts market.
• Interface (Nasdaq: IFSIA): leading carpet tile manufacturer uses a high percentage of recycled material.
• Sims Group (SGM.AX; NYSE: MM): the world's largest metals and electronics recycler.

So, is gardening over your head?

By Debbie Cafazzo

The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune

One look out the back window was all Vivian DeZwager needed.

As her husband, Joe Maplethorpe, worked to build the garage he'd always dreamed about behind their South Tacoma, Wash., home, a solid beige wall was beginning to take shape.

DeZwager had agreed to sacrifice much of her backyard gardening space so that Maplethorpe would have a place for his woodworking hobby. But as the edifice went up, she started having withdrawal pains.

Then inspiration struck: Why not turn the garage roof into a garden?

The garage is on a downward slope, so the roof would be clearly visible from the back of the house.

"I had heard about green roofs," says deZwager, a Pierce County, Wash., master gardener who works as a gardener for Tacoma Power.

Soon, she would learn much more.

DeZwager, Maplethorpe and deZwager's mother, 70-year-old Janine deZwager, were prepared to do much of the grunt work involved in planting a garden in the sky.

But DeZwager knew enough to know she would need help designing and implementing the idea.

Calling In A Pro
She started with a Google search that brought her first to a green roof expert in Oregon, then to Patrick Carey, of Hadj Design in Snohomish County, Wash.

Carey says it's crucial for a licensed engineer to sign off on the adjustments needed to keep the roof from collapsing.

The pitched garage roof first had to be engineered with extra bracing so it could support the weight of the soil and other materials that would top it.

"It had to have extra trusses all the way across to hold the extra weight," says Maplethorpe.

If you have a 4-inch deep green roof, it should weigh about 25 pounds per square foot — a little heavier than a tile or slate roof, says Carey.

Installing a green roof isn't necessarily a do-it-yourself project, even for serious horticulturists. Carey says he has heard of landscape architects installing green roofs, only to have them blow away in the first windstorm.

"Patrick designed the system, and he helped us install it," says deZwager. "It was definitely a learning process."

Layer It On
DeZwager's green roof was built in layers:

Waterproof membrane: Carey started deZwager's project the way he starts all of the more than 50 green roofs he has designed: by installing a waterproof membrane on top of plywood sheathing. All the seams of the thick vinyl sheeting were heat-welded to prevent leakage from the green roof, which retains water.

"All green roofs have one, whether they're residential or commercial, a steep slope or flat," says Carey. "Ones that don't won't remain roofs for long."

Drainage mat: It consists of a polystyrene sheet molded with cups, like an egg-carton. The cups retain water for plants on the green roof to absorb.

Soil filter fabric: This porous fabric allows water and air to flow through, but retains soil so it doesn't wash away. A layer of mesh that will eventually decompose was added to help control erosion until rooftop plants get established.

Edging: Aluminum curbing creates a shallow "wall" around the roof's perimeter. "You're building a shallow planter," says Carey.

Growth medium: Getting the mixture just right for the type of plants the green roof will grow, and the microclimate in which those plants must be supported takes serious consideration.

Carey, who custom blends special soil mixes for clients, calls this step the "rocket science of green roofing."

The soil in deZwager's roof garden mix is "very mineral oriented," he says. The mix contains a generous portion of pumice gravel. The volcanic rock is lightweight, due to the air pockets inside, and retains heat.

"The kinds of plants she uses are alpine drought tolerant," Carey says. "These are plants that are used to growing on rocks."

The mix also contains compost that is biostable — it's finished decomposing.

Erosion control blanket: This mesh webbing helps keep soil in place until plants are well-established.

Costs
DeZwager's entire project cost about $12,000, including trusses for support, mulch, other layers and plants.

"It could have been more, but we did much of the labor," says deZwager.

Green roofs are designed to last two to three times longer than a standard asphalt roof, Carey says, so that makes the extra upfront cost a little easier to take.

He says homeowners should expect to spend between $17.50 and $22.50 per square foot on a green roof assembly.

Planting A Rooftop

Installing the green roof hardware on the Tacoma garage took several days last fall. Maplethorpe lifted huge bags of soil — 11 yards in all — up to the roof with a mechanized hoist.

After the soil was smoothed, it was time to plant.

DeZwager chose succulents and other drought-tolerant plants like hens-and-chicks, sedums and ice plants. The garden contains allium bulbs and brass buttons – more than 2,000 individual plans in all.

DeZwager brought some, but borrowed others from friends and neighbors and propagated them in pots.

But she wasn’t content to plant a mere garden up on the roof. Instead, she decided to use the plans to draw a picture. When her plans grow to maturity – and when she finishes the second half of the roof this spring – the picture will be completed.

She’ll tend her low-maintenance garden by climbing a ladder and says she’ll water – on the rare occasions that it’s needed – with a hose or a sprinkler.

DeZwager acknowledges that it might have been easier to spray-paint a mural on the roof. But her husband reminds her that she’s just a “tree-loving hippie.”

“I’m a gardener,” deZwager concludes. “I got hooked on the idea of a green roof. The design just sort of evolved.”

The (Possible) Perils of Being Thirsty While Being Green

By ALINA TUGEND
Published: January 5, 2008
The New York Times

I HAVE the usual New Year’s resolutions — exercise more, lose weight, be a nicer person. I also hope to find out if I am inadvertently poisoning my children.

My fear has to do with reusing what are known as “single use” plastic water bottles, like Poland Spring. I buy them not because I distrust New York tap water, but because they are easy to carry around in the car and to various kids’ sporting events. And if one is lost, as it invariably is, no biggie.

We refill them with tap water and use them a number of times before recycling. I was, I sanctimoniously thought, doing my green part.

But by trying to save the earth, am I hurting my family’s health? I had heard it wasn’t a good idea to refill these single-use bottles because the plastic leaches dangerous chemicals. But is that enough of a risk to make me change my ways? What if I stop using plastic bottles and then drink less water? Is that a good trade-off?

It is the old conundrum about risk versus benefits.

Here is what I found out: most plastics are stamped with a number from 1 to 7 at the bottom — these numbers are used to indicate how to recycle or dispose of the plastic.

The type of plastic bottle that typically holds water, soda and juice is made from polyethylene terephthalate, a petroleum-based material also known as PET that is labeled No. 1.

The trouble with reusing those plastic bottles is that each time they are washed and refilled they become a little more scratched and crinkly, which can lead them to degrade. That can cause a trace metal called antimony to leach out, said Frederick S. vom Saal, a professor of biology at the University of Missouri who has studied plastics for years.

“We have to assume that along with that metal, others are almost certainly leaching out as well, but we don’t know what they are and we don’t know what to look for because manufacturers won’t tell us what else is in the bottles,” Professor vom Saal said.

One inaccuracy that I came across repeatedly is that a chemical called phthalates, which can interfere with male hormones, poses a danger from such water bottles.

Lynn R. Goldman, professor of environmental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the truth was that it leached in barely discernible amounts.

Perhaps more worrisome is that because the bottles — with their small openings — are harder to wash out than the wide-mouth hiking and sports bottles, they can house bacteria.

At this point, I do not feel terribly anxious about reusing the bottles several times — that is usually all we can do before we lose them or they crumple beyond recognition.

But perhaps a better alternative — in terms of health and the environment — is to use the hard plastic bottles made with polycarbonate plastic, often known by the brand Nalgene. It has the numeral 7 stamped at the bottom and is the same type of material used to make some baby bottles, the lining of tin cans and other products. I have some of those around the house. They are just too big to fit into our car cup holders so I retired them to the basement.

Time to dig them out?

Not quite. Environmental groups and some scientists have raised concern that such plastic can leach bisphenol A, an endocrine-disrupting chemical.

It is a big enough issue that last year, the National Toxicology Program Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction convened a 12-member expert panel to examine studies related to the chemical.

At the same time, another government-financed group, made up of about 40 scientists with expertise in bisphenol A, reviewed more than 700 relevant studies.

Here is where it gets a little tricky. The first group concluded that most people’s exposure to the chemical was well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard.

Nonetheless, the panel expressed “some concern” that the chemical could cause behavioral and neurological problems in developing fetuses and young children. For more information, go to www. niehs.nih.gov.

More studies are being done on certain aspects of the chemical, said Michael D. Shelby, director of the center, and a final brief will be issued this summer.

But Professor vom Saal, the lead author of the scientists’ report, said their findings were far less benign. “There is a very high level of concern about the potential harm caused by bisphenol A in animals,” he said, including potential for diabetes, cancer and obesity. “The prediction by this panel is that we can expect similar harm in people.”

And industry has its own view. Steven Hentges, executive director of the polycarbonate/BPA global group of the American Chemistry Council, dismissed fears about bisphenol A and said that no country had banned or restricted the chemical’s use. “No government body has found reason to be alarmed,” he said. On its Web site, Nalgene reaches the same conclusion.

So forget about those bottles? The reality is that bisphenol A is present in many types of material, from resins used to coat the interior surface of most food and beverage cans to some children’s toys.

There is a danger in focusing exclusively on bottles rather than looking at the need for government regulation of the widespread use of these chemicals, Professor Goldman said.

But choosing what water container you use can give you a slight sense of control. And Professor vom Saal noted that the range of exposure among people varied widely. So exchanging that polycarbonate water bottle for one made of glass or stainless steel may be a good idea.

Forget glass for obvious reasons (“Mom, I just sliced my finger”). A search of available stainless steel bottles showed they run around $16 and up — a safer but pricey alternative given that no matter how hard we try, we are bound to leave them scattered on various fields.

“If I was to use plastic, I would stay with No. 2 and No. 5,” Professor vom Saal said. No. 2 is high-density polyethylene; No. 5 is polypropylene. Both are used in margarine tubs and yogurt containers for example.

But, he warned, do not heat anything in any type of plastic in the microwave.

If you do use these hard No. 7 plastic bottles, the Green Guide, published by the National Geographic Society, advises you to avoid washing them in a dishwasher or with harsh detergent to limit wear and tear.

I have no doubt that some readers think it is ridiculous to worry about such risks, while others will immediately toss out their plastic bottles. I am still on the fence.

So, in a frenzy of indecision, I decided to look elsewhere in an attempt to be environmentally good. What about those plastic bags we use for sandwiches and snacks — is there a way to cut down on them?

One friend suggested wax paper, another foil.

“The big trade-off is between manufacturing and disposability,” said Seth Bauer, editorial director for the Green Guide and thegreenguide.com. “Plastic is manufactured incredibly efficiently and uses a lot less energy, while wax paper has a fairly intensive manufacturing process.”

Mining aluminum is also bad for the environment, he noted, and uses a great deal of energy.

Plastic bags can be rinsed out, if they do not hold meat, and reused, but wax paper is better than plastic when it comes to disposal.

There is also a Web site, www.reusablebags.com, which offers a product called “Wrap-N-Mat” with a Velcro closure that you can wash and use repeatedly at $6.95 a pop.

I might try good old-fashioned Tupperware. I started searching on the Web for cute ones shaped like sandwiches and then realized I had plenty of containers in my cupboard that would do the job just fine.

Stop buying and use what we have in the house? Now that would be an innovative resolution.

Water Savings in the Pipeline
by Stephanie Tanner
July 10, 2007

PM Engineer

EPA’s new WaterSense program bolsters efficiency and performance.

No matter whom you talk to, everyone has the same expectation: Clean and plentiful water supplies on demand. Thanks to decades of sound planning and engineering, the plumbing industry has generally met the demand and delivered with a combination of top-quality products and plumbing expertise throughout the supply chain.

But water supplies are getting tighter. Both the demand for water and costs to deliver water continue to rise. Moving forward, whether you manufacture, design, install, maintain or repair plumbing systems, your customers are going to start demanding the same or higher levels of performance from more water-efficient products and systems.

With the ultimate goal of saving water resources for future generations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new partnership program: WaterSense. Everyone plays a role in this public-private partnership—manufacturers develop and market high-efficiency products, utilities promote the use of these products through rebates and other programs, and retailers and distributors sell them to homeowners, businesses and service providers. Plumbing engineers can get involved by specifying and designing for high-efficiency products in their projects.

A key component of the program is the WaterSense label. The label differentiates products that meet the program’s water efficiency and performance criteria and helps consumers readily identify water-efficient products. To label a product, manufacturers must have it certified by an independent third party as meeting WaterSense performance standards. With WaterSense, individual plumbing products will, for the first time, bear a label that denotes water efficiency, which will allow manufacturers to highlight their products’ performance and environmental benefits.

The WaterSense label also will create consumer confidence in new, high-efficiency products. Because meeting rigorous technical requirements is part of the labeling process, consumers will come to recognize the label as an indicator of not only water efficiency, but also high performance.

Flush With Possibilities
Imagine being able to quickly and easily identify high-performing, water-efficient toilets in plumbing catalogues, on Web sites and in stores. Earlier this year, EPA finalized its first product specification for tank-type high-efficiency toilets. As a result, this summer, millions of Americans will be able to select a WaterSense-labeled high-efficiency toilet (HET).

At the time of the release of the WaterSense tank-type HET Specification, the Uniform North American Requirements (UNAR) waste removal requirement was 250 grams of media. It has since been revised to also require the removal of a minimum of 350 grams of media.

The WaterSense HET specification addresses toilets typically found in homes and light commercial settings such as hotels and restaurants, including gravity-type, pressure-assisted and electrohydraulic-assisted toilets. It does not address flushometer valve-type toilets typically found in commercial, institutional and industrial settings (e.g., airports, arenas, schools, office buildings) or composting toilets because of their different designs, patterns of use and performance requirements. WaterSense is examining these technologies, however, and may address these products in separate specifications in the future.

WaterSense developed the tank-type HET specification through a process of significant stakeholder input, market research and technical review. EPA’s efficiency and performance criteria are based on the specification from the existing Uniform North American Requirements (UNAR) for Toilet Fixtures: Guidelines and Specifications, which were established by water utility representatives and members of the plumbing industry to create a uniform set of standards.

UNAR is a combination of two widely recognized voluntary, non-certification toilet testing protocols: Maximum Performance (MaP) Testing of Popular Toilet Models, developed by Veritec Consulting, Inc., and Koeller and Co., and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Requirements for Ultra-Low-Flush-Toilets, Supplementary Purchase Specification to ASME A112.19.2 (or LADWP SPS).

The MaP test establishes performance testing requirements, and LADWP SPS requires the use of durable, chemical-resistant flush valve seals and restricts maximum flush volumes under maximum trim adjustments and pressure conditions.

In order to receive the WaterSense label for a tank-type HET, EPA’s specification requires:

• A toilet’s effective flush volume to be less than 1.28 gallons per flush (gpf); this represents a 20% increase in efficiency over the current 1.6-gpf standard mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 1992).
• Complete removal of 350 grams of waste media plus four balls of loosely crumpled toilet paper on 4 out of 5 attempts.
• The use of a pilot valve, or another type of fill valve, that complies with a fill valve integrity test protocol.
• Any barrier, bucket, dam or displacement device used in the toilet tank to be permanent and tamper-resistant.
• When the tank trim is set to its maximum setting and the water supply static pressure is increased to 80 pounds per square inch (psi), that the flush volume not increase by more than 0.4 gpf for single-flush toilets (i.e., 1.68 gpf/6.4 Liters per flush [Lpf]) and the full-flush mode in dual-flush toilets (i.e., 2.0 gpf/7.6 Lpf). The reduced-flush mode flush volume cannot increase by more than 0.3 gpf (i.e., no more than 1.4 gpf/5.3 Lpf).
• The testing of replacement flush valve seals to ensure that replacing manufacturer-installed seals with off-the-shelf replacements will not increase the toilet’s flush volume.

Both single-flush and dual-flush HETs are eligible for the WaterSense label. Single-flush toilets must use 1.28 gpf or less per flush. For dual-flush toilets, the effective flush volume, determined by taking the average of one full flush and two reduced flushes, must be 1.28 gpf or less. This means a dual-flush toilet that uses 1.6 gpf of less for its full flush and 1.1 gpf or less for its reduced flush would qualify.

To ensure a higher level of performance, the WaterSense specification requires toilets to flush 350 grams of media at 1.28 gpf—a more rigorous criterion than UNAR’s minimum requirement of removing 250 grams of media with a maximum of 1.6 gpf. One reason for increasing the waste removal requirement was to avoid user satisfaction problems that arose in the 1990s, when some of the new 1.6-gpf ultra-low-flush toilets introduced to meet the EPAct 1992 requirements did not perform to users’ satisfaction.

Although many design problems have been corrected, and toilets made today perform much better than some initial models, these original poorly performing products created a stigma among “low-flow” toilets that still lingers to this day. EPA hopes to overcome this consumer perception by broadly promoting the performance requirements of WaterSense-labeled HETs, including the independent certification that manufacturers must complete before their products can bear the label.

The WaterSense specification further diverges from the UNAR specification by requiring the use of an uncased soybean paste media in the performance testing. The decision to revert to the use of uncased media was driven by concerns raised by a few manufacturers over the variability in test results when using the cased tubular media during in-house product testing. Uncased media had been used for several years prior to the introduction of the cased samples, and has a well-established testing track record. Cased media was first introduced in response to manufacturers’ complaints about the cost of performing multiple tests, each of which required a new set of test media. Since the WaterSense specification only requires a maximum of five tests per HET, the cost issue became irrelevant. Many stakeholders also commented that the uncased media provides a more realistic sample than the cased media.

One question that was first raised with the introduction of 1.6 gpf toilets and has resurfaced with the introduction of HETs is whether the reduced water flows of these fixtures will lead to clogging or drainline carry issues. In addressing this issue, WaterSense looked at the findings of the 2005 “Evaluation of Water-Efficient Toilet Technologies to Carry Waste in Drainlines” performed by Veritec Consulting, Inc. and Koeller and Co. This report showed that both HETs and 1.6-gpf toilets achieved sufficient drainline carry distances when using a three-inch diameter drainpipe installed at a 2% slope typical in most residential settings.

To further address this issue, WaterSense sponsored a subsequent study that tested under more-difficult-than-average conditions, consisting of a four-inch diameter drainpipe installed at a 1% slope. Even under these adverse conditions, all HETs tested (even 1-gallon models) exceeded the targeted 4-meter (12.2 feet) drainline carry distance. Based upon these studies, WaterSense feels confident that HETs flushing with as little as one gallon provide sufficient water in residential and commercial applications to move the waste from the fixtures to the sewer.

As shown in Figure 1), an average family of four replacing its inefficient 3.5-gpf toilet with a 1.28-gpf, WaterSense-labeled HET could reduce its water consumption by as much as 16,500 gallons each year, and reduce its annual water costs by $95. At the national level, replacing just 10% of the existing less-efficient toilet stock could save 246 million gallons of water a day and 89.7 billion gallons of water each year.

While manufacturers are currently in the process of applying to use the label on products, EPA does not anticipate a problem with consumers finding WaterSense-labeled HETs in the future; there are currently a dozen manufacturers producing more than 60 models that could potentially meet the WaterSense specification requirements.