We arrived safe and sound yesterday about noon after 8 days at sea. No storms or major issues. We sighted land at 5am after 6 days with nothing but water all around us. It is gorgeous here and we are enjoying getting cleaned up and r&r. Internet cafes are nonexistent and the whole island is on a national holiday through tomorrow so connectivity has been frustratingly lacking. I will fly home in the next day or two. More to come with pics when I return.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Castoff
About ready to cast off for the dock. Should be about 5-7 days till Bermuda. No wind yet but should pickup offshore.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Baby birds! v2.0
The nest has progressed well and we had our first chicks hatch two weeks from the day the first egg was laid. Two chicks were out by 10AM and the parents were pretty excited. The following day the third chick was born. We have kept waiting for the 4th egg to hatch but it looks like it was a dud. The three chicks have grown rapidly and both parents have been very busy feeding them. They are super cute and want to be fed constantly. I managed to get some decent pictures of the feeding, so without further ado here are the pics. Note the ridiculous development between day 17 and day 19:
More pictures are here. I'll keep taking pics as long as they stay in the nest (should be 2 weeks from hatching).
More pictures are here. I'll keep taking pics as long as they stay in the nest (should be 2 weeks from hatching).
Monday, July 4, 2011
More bird neighbors
We had robins try to build a nest by our juliet balcony back in April but shoed them away due to imminent door replacement construction. With the wrens fledged and gone we thought we were done with bird excitement for the season. Wrong.The robins came back and built their nest in a day. It was fun to watch them use the very corner of the balcony for their nest. This must be a regular site for them to nest as they seem unphased by the large glass door and awkward nest location. Over the next couple of days the female robin laid four eggs, one per day. This is a standard clutch size according to wikipedia. The last egg was laid on June 25 so we expect eggs to start hatching this Saturday July 9. Mama bird does not particularly like our presence though and often flies away screaming at us if we come close to the door. I don't have any pictures of mama bird yet since she doesn't like it when we get close to her on the nest. We'll see if I can find a way around this. In the meantime, here are pictures of the nest and eggs.
I'll take more pictures as the nest & family develops.
I'll take more pictures as the nest & family develops.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Away they go!
After all of the drama our last couple of days with the chicks were quiet. They were starting to look like real birds and the mother wren started hanging around the nest. We thought that she was wary of our presence or our pizza box devices but then speculated that she was sticking around in case one of her chicks fell again or tried to fly from the nest.
On Wednesday, June 1, exactly 14 days old, the chicks fledged. It started in the morning with the mom hanging around the nest a lot and making a lot of noise. Lauren thought that she was encouraging the chicks to come out of the nest and turned out she was right. After Lauren left for work I opened the screen door and took down the crow shield. This was exactly what they needed since as I slid the screen closed one of the chicks hopped out onto the top of the nest. The rest of the chicks soon followed suit and their mom and dad became very excited and active- making a racket and flying between the nest and the tree. They even tried to lure the chicks to the tree by bringing big bugs right in front of the chicks and then flying to the nearby tree branch.
After much trepidation one of the chicks made a successful flight to the tree branch! The other chicks were less optimistic and jumped around on the top of the hanging basket, railing, and screen. After some mis-flights and one rescue by me all the chicks safely ended up in a thick bush on the ground floor below our window. The chicks were certainly not proficient fliers and had trouble gaining elevation on their flights. They also struggled learning what they could use as a perch. Regardless, it was amazing watching these little birds take flight for the first time. Nothing like a 30' fall to concrete to encourage a successful first flight. Despite a lack of agility in the air, they were all able to keep fairly level and flap their wings enough to at least significantly slow their decent.
I checked on the bush an hour later and the whole family had migrated to a tree about 20 feet away, though not all the chicks were able to fly up into the lowest branches. I went on a bike ride and when I returned the family was gone. By following the parents' song I located the family in thick bushes on the other side of the parking lot. I could only visually locate one chick but due to the racket the parents made on my approach I am sure the others were there as well. Another couple of hours later and the wrens were nowhere to be found. That evening Lauren came home to a very empty nest. We have not seen or heard 'our' wrens in the week since they fledged. We can only hope they are doing their bird thing in our back woods and the same mated-pair will come back next year to raise another brood of chicks.
The final pics of the wrens, with more here:
On Wednesday, June 1, exactly 14 days old, the chicks fledged. It started in the morning with the mom hanging around the nest a lot and making a lot of noise. Lauren thought that she was encouraging the chicks to come out of the nest and turned out she was right. After Lauren left for work I opened the screen door and took down the crow shield. This was exactly what they needed since as I slid the screen closed one of the chicks hopped out onto the top of the nest. The rest of the chicks soon followed suit and their mom and dad became very excited and active- making a racket and flying between the nest and the tree. They even tried to lure the chicks to the tree by bringing big bugs right in front of the chicks and then flying to the nearby tree branch.
After much trepidation one of the chicks made a successful flight to the tree branch! The other chicks were less optimistic and jumped around on the top of the hanging basket, railing, and screen. After some mis-flights and one rescue by me all the chicks safely ended up in a thick bush on the ground floor below our window. The chicks were certainly not proficient fliers and had trouble gaining elevation on their flights. They also struggled learning what they could use as a perch. Regardless, it was amazing watching these little birds take flight for the first time. Nothing like a 30' fall to concrete to encourage a successful first flight. Despite a lack of agility in the air, they were all able to keep fairly level and flap their wings enough to at least significantly slow their decent.
I checked on the bush an hour later and the whole family had migrated to a tree about 20 feet away, though not all the chicks were able to fly up into the lowest branches. I went on a bike ride and when I returned the family was gone. By following the parents' song I located the family in thick bushes on the other side of the parking lot. I could only visually locate one chick but due to the racket the parents made on my approach I am sure the others were there as well. Another couple of hours later and the wrens were nowhere to be found. That evening Lauren came home to a very empty nest. We have not seen or heard 'our' wrens in the week since they fledged. We can only hope they are doing their bird thing in our back woods and the same mated-pair will come back next year to raise another brood of chicks.
The final pics of the wrens, with more here:
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Downy drama
The chicks are growing bigger every day and accumulating more flight feathers. It's been hot here so the chicks have been crowded and hot, resting with their beaks open on the nest opening. It's now Day 11 and there's been a flurry of activity with the nest recently.
Yesterday I rode my bike to the farmer's market in town. When I returned home I was putting away groceries when I saw a huge black crow land on the hanging basket and start eying the nest! I rushed over to the door and banged on the glass making the crow fly off to the adjacent tree and then away. I inspected the nest and found it quite disheveled with the chicks cowering in the far back corner of the nest cavity. I poked around and to my horror discovered only four of the six chicks remained in the nest! I looked around under the nest to see if one had fallen or if there were feathers indicating an altercation, but there was not a trace to be found. It is reasonable to suspect the crow somehow discovered the nest and made a nice snack out of a couple of the wren chicks. Despite this being a classic example of the circle of life, I endeavored to not let the crow capture any more of the chicks for the remainder of the afternoon. This meant I couldn't lose sight of the nest for >30 seconds.
I was quite successful at this for a couple of hours, but then was meeting a couple of new friends at a bar to watch the soccer Champions League final. I hadn't seen the crow for a couple of hours but I didn't want to leave the chicks to fend for themselves for the remainder of the afternoon. The logical solution was to protect the nest in my absence with an impermeable shield:
Made of 1 pizza box lid and 4 twistie ties, it's surprisingly rigid and would be a pain for a crow to move. I stayed around for a bit to make sure the parents still fed the chicks with the shield up and then took off to the bar.
Happy with my defense mechanism I thoroughly enjoyed the soccer match and returned home to find the shield in place and no more chicks missing. All was well until this morning.
Lauren got up for work and went to make her customary check of the chicks before breakfast. She called me quickly that one of the chicks had fallen out of the nest! It luckily hadn't fallen 3 stories to the concrete below, but was somewhat wedged between the black cast iron railing and the screen. It was hanging onto the screen for dear life but luckily appeared healthy. It was a precarious situation as we had to slide the screen in order to attempt to rescue the chick. We also couldn't reach the chick after opening the screen an arm's thickness, so again it was pizza box to the rescue! With the bottom half of the box I was able to reach the chick, scoop underneath it, get it in the box, and then Lauren grabbed it. With a little encouragement it was helped back into the nest and was no worse the wear. Needless to say, there was no time for photography during this escapade.
This episode realized our worst fear, that as the chicks get closer to fledging, they will crowd the nest and might fall out. Clearly the chicks needed some human intervention. With some string, twistie ties, and the other half of the pizza box we fashioned a CFAD (chick falling assist device):
With the leaf debris on top it should cushion and house any chick long enough that we can put it back in the nest. At this point our neighbors definitely think we're weird. Luckily the huge tree helps to block the nest or our well-engineered devices from the prying eyes of the public (or apartment management).
Phew, after all this drama we're hoping the chicks have a low-key last couple of days of development. The parents are feeding them basically non-stop, which is simply impressive. Also cool was we saw the female wren fly away with a white sack in her mouth. Lauren had a hunch about it and confirmed that it was a fecal sac, common for this family of birds. It helps ensure the nest remains fairly tidy. This should be the last week of the chicks in the nest, so a lot will be happening.
All that's left is to post pictures from the last couple of days. Again, more pictures are here:
Stay tuned for future updates.
Yesterday I rode my bike to the farmer's market in town. When I returned home I was putting away groceries when I saw a huge black crow land on the hanging basket and start eying the nest! I rushed over to the door and banged on the glass making the crow fly off to the adjacent tree and then away. I inspected the nest and found it quite disheveled with the chicks cowering in the far back corner of the nest cavity. I poked around and to my horror discovered only four of the six chicks remained in the nest! I looked around under the nest to see if one had fallen or if there were feathers indicating an altercation, but there was not a trace to be found. It is reasonable to suspect the crow somehow discovered the nest and made a nice snack out of a couple of the wren chicks. Despite this being a classic example of the circle of life, I endeavored to not let the crow capture any more of the chicks for the remainder of the afternoon. This meant I couldn't lose sight of the nest for >30 seconds.
I was quite successful at this for a couple of hours, but then was meeting a couple of new friends at a bar to watch the soccer Champions League final. I hadn't seen the crow for a couple of hours but I didn't want to leave the chicks to fend for themselves for the remainder of the afternoon. The logical solution was to protect the nest in my absence with an impermeable shield:
Made of 1 pizza box lid and 4 twistie ties, it's surprisingly rigid and would be a pain for a crow to move. I stayed around for a bit to make sure the parents still fed the chicks with the shield up and then took off to the bar.
Happy with my defense mechanism I thoroughly enjoyed the soccer match and returned home to find the shield in place and no more chicks missing. All was well until this morning.
Lauren got up for work and went to make her customary check of the chicks before breakfast. She called me quickly that one of the chicks had fallen out of the nest! It luckily hadn't fallen 3 stories to the concrete below, but was somewhat wedged between the black cast iron railing and the screen. It was hanging onto the screen for dear life but luckily appeared healthy. It was a precarious situation as we had to slide the screen in order to attempt to rescue the chick. We also couldn't reach the chick after opening the screen an arm's thickness, so again it was pizza box to the rescue! With the bottom half of the box I was able to reach the chick, scoop underneath it, get it in the box, and then Lauren grabbed it. With a little encouragement it was helped back into the nest and was no worse the wear. Needless to say, there was no time for photography during this escapade.
This episode realized our worst fear, that as the chicks get closer to fledging, they will crowd the nest and might fall out. Clearly the chicks needed some human intervention. With some string, twistie ties, and the other half of the pizza box we fashioned a CFAD (chick falling assist device):
With the leaf debris on top it should cushion and house any chick long enough that we can put it back in the nest. At this point our neighbors definitely think we're weird. Luckily the huge tree helps to block the nest or our well-engineered devices from the prying eyes of the public (or apartment management).
Phew, after all this drama we're hoping the chicks have a low-key last couple of days of development. The parents are feeding them basically non-stop, which is simply impressive. Also cool was we saw the female wren fly away with a white sack in her mouth. Lauren had a hunch about it and confirmed that it was a fecal sac, common for this family of birds. It helps ensure the nest remains fairly tidy. This should be the last week of the chicks in the nest, so a lot will be happening.
All that's left is to post pictures from the last couple of days. Again, more pictures are here:
Stay tuned for future updates.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Baby birds!
About a month ago we purchased a hanging plant for our sliding door railing. We set it out on Thursday and the next morning found a pair of Carolina Wrens building a nest in it. They are really cute and mate for life. Over the next couple days they finished constructing the nest and soon laid 6 eggs in it. After sitting on them for just over two weeks, they all hatched last Thursday, 5/19.
The weather has gotten warm lately so there has been little reason for the mom to sit with the babies. Instead her and the dad are spending most of their time foraging for bugs and insects to feed the six chicks. We have enjoyed watching them from the couch about 4' away and have witnessed an abundance of worms, spiders, and beetles fed to the little mouths. When the parents are away we have opened the sliding doors to get up close and personal with the chicks and to check on their development. During this time I have been documenting their growth, which is amazingly fast. According to literature, they will start fledging (leaving the nest) next week already! It's been great fun watching them develop up so close to our living room. Enough talk, here are some pictures of the nest location and the chicks' development. (Fullsize & more pictures are here)
The hanging basket by our living room:
Feeding time:
The weather has gotten warm lately so there has been little reason for the mom to sit with the babies. Instead her and the dad are spending most of their time foraging for bugs and insects to feed the six chicks. We have enjoyed watching them from the couch about 4' away and have witnessed an abundance of worms, spiders, and beetles fed to the little mouths. When the parents are away we have opened the sliding doors to get up close and personal with the chicks and to check on their development. During this time I have been documenting their growth, which is amazingly fast. According to literature, they will start fledging (leaving the nest) next week already! It's been great fun watching them develop up so close to our living room. Enough talk, here are some pictures of the nest location and the chicks' development. (Fullsize & more pictures are here)
The hanging basket by our living room:
Feeding time:
Stay tuned for the next week of growth!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Feathered friend
When we first moved into our apartment we heard strange animal noises from the woods behind the apartment complex. They occurred mostly at night and the early morning hours, but also occasionally during the day. Based on the calls Lauren suspected it was a Barred Owl which we confirmed by consulting our bird book. There were a couple of distinct individuals that we heard almost every day and morning. One night we even tried to track the owl. We didn't get very close, but due to some rough triangulation we determined it likely came from a swampy area immediately adjacent to the apartment complex.
One afternoon we were outside when an individual started vocalizing. We grabbed our binoculars and went trudging into the swamp to try and find the source. Of course once we entered the swamp the calls stopped. It had sounded very close, but we couldn't tell if it was super close, or more like 1/4 mile away. We had reached an impasse in the swamp due to a small brook when Lauren called out that she had managed to spot the owl! It sat unmoving in a tree not 100' from where we were and blended in perfectly with the mottled tree trunks. How Lauren managed to spot it is beyond me. Maybe she has an animal connection.
It was indeed a Barred Owl, and it looked amazing. I don't think I've ever seen an owl up close and personal before, and certainly not in the wild. When it looked at me my heart just stopped, it was so intense.
We huddled up under a nearby tree and watched the owl for about 45 minutes. I ran back to the apartment and grabbed my camera to try my hand at digiscoping. I don't have any tools to assist me, so it was a very precarious situation holding the camera precisely aligned with the binoculars and trying to manually focus the camera at the same time (since autofocus doesn't work so well through so many pieces of glass). Thankfully the owl didn't fly away or move during the whole ordeal. By the end I think the results were pretty decent.
Without binoculars (arrow points to owl):
Through Lauren's 10x binoculars:
What a difference the binoculars make! All in all a very chill large barred owl. We speculate it's a female due to her large size. We have continued to hear her and others in our back woods for the last month or so. Wildlife is so cool!
One afternoon we were outside when an individual started vocalizing. We grabbed our binoculars and went trudging into the swamp to try and find the source. Of course once we entered the swamp the calls stopped. It had sounded very close, but we couldn't tell if it was super close, or more like 1/4 mile away. We had reached an impasse in the swamp due to a small brook when Lauren called out that she had managed to spot the owl! It sat unmoving in a tree not 100' from where we were and blended in perfectly with the mottled tree trunks. How Lauren managed to spot it is beyond me. Maybe she has an animal connection.
It was indeed a Barred Owl, and it looked amazing. I don't think I've ever seen an owl up close and personal before, and certainly not in the wild. When it looked at me my heart just stopped, it was so intense.
We huddled up under a nearby tree and watched the owl for about 45 minutes. I ran back to the apartment and grabbed my camera to try my hand at digiscoping. I don't have any tools to assist me, so it was a very precarious situation holding the camera precisely aligned with the binoculars and trying to manually focus the camera at the same time (since autofocus doesn't work so well through so many pieces of glass). Thankfully the owl didn't fly away or move during the whole ordeal. By the end I think the results were pretty decent.
Without binoculars (arrow points to owl):
Camera at full zoom:
What a difference the binoculars make! All in all a very chill large barred owl. We speculate it's a female due to her large size. We have continued to hear her and others in our back woods for the last month or so. Wildlife is so cool!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Step 3- Hot water heater
Here's an easy one- turn down the temperature on your hot water heater. This reduces standby energy losses of keeping all of that water hot all of the time. It's also good to note that hot water above 120 degrees can cause instant burns. Why keep water warmer than you need it?
First you turn off the power to the electric water heater just in case you touch any electrical wires. Two screws later you have access to the upper element's thermostats.
Before:
Simple repeat the process for the lower heating element. In this picture I only set it at 125, but a week later I moved it to 120 with no ill effects.
How much energy are we saving? Here's a quick ballpark number for the total standby losses:
EnergyGuide estimated cost per year= $411
My tank's energy factor = 0.92
Yearly standby losses ~= (1-0.92) * 411 = $33
I moved the thermostat from 140 to 120 (30% decrease from ~70 degree groundwater), so 0.3 * $33 = $9.90
This has a lot of assumptions, but is likely a fair order of magnitude calculation. Is $10/yr going to make you rich? Probably not, but it's FREE MONEY, and a significant savings considering the change costs $0 and can be done by anyone with a screwdriver. Nation-wide energy savings doesn't get easier than this.
Additionally, the calculation is based on cheap coal powered electricity (thanks Dominion), I'm not expecting prices to stay low into the future.
First you turn off the power to the electric water heater just in case you touch any electrical wires. Two screws later you have access to the upper element's thermostats.
Before:
After:
Simple repeat the process for the lower heating element. In this picture I only set it at 125, but a week later I moved it to 120 with no ill effects.
How much energy are we saving? Here's a quick ballpark number for the total standby losses:
EnergyGuide estimated cost per year= $411
My tank's energy factor = 0.92
Yearly standby losses ~= (1-0.92) * 411 = $33
I moved the thermostat from 140 to 120 (30% decrease from ~70 degree groundwater), so 0.3 * $33 = $9.90
This has a lot of assumptions, but is likely a fair order of magnitude calculation. Is $10/yr going to make you rich? Probably not, but it's FREE MONEY, and a significant savings considering the change costs $0 and can be done by anyone with a screwdriver. Nation-wide energy savings doesn't get easier than this.
Additionally, the calculation is based on cheap coal powered electricity (thanks Dominion), I'm not expecting prices to stay low into the future.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Step 2- Water
I am always amazed by how little we pay for water and sewer. The national average is $2.72 per 1,000 gallons. It is such a privilege to have easy access to great quality water.
With such a low rate perhaps it should come as little surprised that our average use of water is staggering. The national average is 70 gallons of indoor water use PER PERSON per day: http://www.drinktap.org/consumerdnn/Home/WaterInformation/Conservation/WaterUseStatistics/tabid/85/Default.aspx.
70 gallons each! That's a lot of water! Why should we care about how much water we use? Basically we'll be in a world of hurt if we suck out too much fresh water from the ground. Levels in many places across the country are dangerously low as shown here. And we're affecting plants and animals by 'using' tons of water from lakes and rivers. And my favorite reason is because we don't own the planet and its resources. We should try to minimize our impact on it, especially when it is SO easy.
I'm doing a couple things to help reduce our water use. First was installing a high efficiency aerator in the bathroom sink. The existing aerator was 2.2 gallons per minute (GPM):
This is the standard US aerator. It regulates flow to 2.2 GPM, the maximum amount allowed by law. (The 2.2 GPM limit was created by Congress back in 1992, and was signed into law by Bush senior. Why hasn't this been updated in 19 years!?)
This is what the flow looks like. Gushing waterfall anyone?
There is no reason we need 2.2 GPM for bathroom hand washing. This amount of water is much better suited to a kitchen sink, if at all. A pair of pliers was all I needed to install the new one.
High efficiency 0.5 GPM aerator. Purchased from Greenfeet for ~$2.50 including shipping.
New improved flow. Plenty for hand washing, brushing teeth, etc.
Installation was a breeze and we're now saving 77% of our fresh water from our sink, with no loss of function. These high efficiency aerators have about the same payback as CFLs (less than a year). And similar to CFLs you can take them with you if move.
Next up was the kitchen sink.
Original sink- 2.0 GPM.
Strangely the kitchen sink had a more constrictive aerator than the bathroom sink. Goes to show how poorly thought-out this arrangement was. Our new aerator is courtesy of the City of Charlottesville:
It has adjustable flow (spray or stream) with a max of 1.5 GPM. It also incorporates a swivel nozzle which is great for cleaning dishes & pots. 25% water savings in 10 minutes. We have fairly high water usage since we do all of our dishes by hand, so this will definitely have a good impact. The only problem is that the added swivel hardware makes it hard to fill up our Brita water filter jug. This is more the fault of a ridiculous low sink spout (future hardware upgrade?) than the aerator, but is worth noting.
Last was the shower head. I was surprised and impressed to see that the factory head has a flow of 1.5 GPM. This is great vs the standard 2.2 GPM!
Existing 1.5 GPM head.
Unfortunately the spray was not firm enough for our liking, so I installed a low-flow head (also from the City of Charlottesville).
Newly installed (used) 2.0 GPM shower head.
This is a 2.0 GPM head, so our water use will actually go UP. However, the original shower head had close to zero utility, so both the utility and our enjoyment will go up more dramatically.
Here were three changes that took about 20 minutes to install and a total cost of under $10. With an average lifespan of about 20 years, these fixtures will continue to produce savings long past they have earned back the initial cost. Do it for the cost savings, or the environment, but it makes sense any way you look at it.
With such a low rate perhaps it should come as little surprised that our average use of water is staggering. The national average is 70 gallons of indoor water use PER PERSON per day: http://www.drinktap.org/consumerdnn/Home/WaterInformation/Conservation/WaterUseStatistics/tabid/85/Default.aspx.
70 gallons each! That's a lot of water! Why should we care about how much water we use? Basically we'll be in a world of hurt if we suck out too much fresh water from the ground. Levels in many places across the country are dangerously low as shown here. And we're affecting plants and animals by 'using' tons of water from lakes and rivers. And my favorite reason is because we don't own the planet and its resources. We should try to minimize our impact on it, especially when it is SO easy.
I'm doing a couple things to help reduce our water use. First was installing a high efficiency aerator in the bathroom sink. The existing aerator was 2.2 gallons per minute (GPM):
This is the standard US aerator. It regulates flow to 2.2 GPM, the maximum amount allowed by law. (The 2.2 GPM limit was created by Congress back in 1992, and was signed into law by Bush senior. Why hasn't this been updated in 19 years!?)
This is what the flow looks like. Gushing waterfall anyone?
There is no reason we need 2.2 GPM for bathroom hand washing. This amount of water is much better suited to a kitchen sink, if at all. A pair of pliers was all I needed to install the new one.
High efficiency 0.5 GPM aerator. Purchased from Greenfeet for ~$2.50 including shipping.
New improved flow. Plenty for hand washing, brushing teeth, etc.
Installation was a breeze and we're now saving 77% of our fresh water from our sink, with no loss of function. These high efficiency aerators have about the same payback as CFLs (less than a year). And similar to CFLs you can take them with you if move.
Next up was the kitchen sink.
Original sink- 2.0 GPM.
Strangely the kitchen sink had a more constrictive aerator than the bathroom sink. Goes to show how poorly thought-out this arrangement was. Our new aerator is courtesy of the City of Charlottesville:
New aerator- 1.5 GPM.
It has adjustable flow (spray or stream) with a max of 1.5 GPM. It also incorporates a swivel nozzle which is great for cleaning dishes & pots. 25% water savings in 10 minutes. We have fairly high water usage since we do all of our dishes by hand, so this will definitely have a good impact. The only problem is that the added swivel hardware makes it hard to fill up our Brita water filter jug. This is more the fault of a ridiculous low sink spout (future hardware upgrade?) than the aerator, but is worth noting.
Last was the shower head. I was surprised and impressed to see that the factory head has a flow of 1.5 GPM. This is great vs the standard 2.2 GPM!
Existing 1.5 GPM head.
Unfortunately the spray was not firm enough for our liking, so I installed a low-flow head (also from the City of Charlottesville).
Newly installed (used) 2.0 GPM shower head.
This is a 2.0 GPM head, so our water use will actually go UP. However, the original shower head had close to zero utility, so both the utility and our enjoyment will go up more dramatically.
Here were three changes that took about 20 minutes to install and a total cost of under $10. With an average lifespan of about 20 years, these fixtures will continue to produce savings long past they have earned back the initial cost. Do it for the cost savings, or the environment, but it makes sense any way you look at it.
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