We've made a lot of energy-efficient upgrades to our home, built in 1990, since we moved in a few years ago. We added new light fixtures with the obligatory CFL bulbs throughout and installed a more efficient water heater. We bought a Fisher & Paykel washing machine that spin-dries my clothes so well that they only need a half hour in the (admittedly ancient) dryer to finish the job. My sweet husband, infinitely patient with my schemes to save energy and improve our home's energy efficiency, even crawled under the house to seal our leaky duct work. But my favorite energy-saving upgrade so far has to be switching out the toilet in our main bathroom to a low-flow toilet, if for no other reason that making this sort of a switch is a conservation twofer—both water and energy savings in a single porcelain package.

It's easy to imagine how replacing an old toilet can save water, especially for toilets installed before 1994, when the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 mandated that residential and commercial toilets must use no more 1.6 gallons per flush (a low flush or low flow toilet). Older toilets, as was my original 1990 commode, likely use at least double this amount of water if not more. But there's also an energy savings in reducing the amount of water you use—savings from a reduced need for water to be treated and delivered to your home.

And this is no small amount of savings we're talking about. I felt quite sure that our old toilet had so much water in the bottom of the bowl that it could have served in a pinch as a swimming pool for our Chihuahua. If you have a toilet that could double as the training facility for a canine Michael Phelps, it's likely that upgrading to any new commode at your local home improvement store will at least halve your gallons per flush. Doing a bit more research and looking for the EPA's Watersense label on a new toilet purchase could easily knock off another 20% from your per-flush water usage.

Before you make your toilet purchase, be sure and check with your local water district. Some offer substantial rebates or incentives to encourage residents to make the switch to a more efficient, low-flow toilet.

Images: Lake Chihuahua, before and after
Credit: Amy Foster Parish

Blog post from Amy Foster Parish. Amy is on staff with the Washington State University Extension Energy Program, where she works to assist inquirers with their energy efficiency and renewable energy questions. In her spare time, she is an avid photographer of toilets.