Energy Utility Offers Free Showerheads, Aerators
Puget Sound Energy on Sept. 12 said that its multi-utility "Empower Your Shower" program launched in July already has provided free showerheads and faucet aerators to 30,000 participants in western Washington.
The press release reported that the program will continue to be available to customers of all participating utilities – PSE, Snohomish County Public Utility District, Tacoma Public Utilities, and Cascade Natural Gas – through the end of September.
Using less water also means using less electricity or natural gas to heat it--the second largest use of household energy--and the showerheads can cut the energy needed to heat showers by as much as 20 percent. The "Empower Your Shower" program also includes tips to reduce the use of water and other resources, such as taking five-minute showers and limiting lawn watering to 1 inch per week.
"Even a 10 percent reduction in water use can have an impressive cumulative effect," said Cal Shirley, vice president of Energy Efficiency Services for PSE. If the average household typically uses 100 gallons of water per person each day and lowers that by 10 percent, they would save 300 gallons per month for each person in the house.
If each of the 871,950 households within the combined service areas of the four participating utilities reduced water use by 15-20 gallons per household each day, it would result in a region-wide savings of 500 million gallons of water – enough to fill 750 Olympic-size swimming pools – in one month alone.
Puget Sound Energy is Washington state's oldest and largest energy utility, with a 6,000-square-mile service area stretching across 11 counties.