Many of our clients ask us what they can change at home to help them go green and save money at the same time. That’s why this Friday we’ve aggregated a few quizzes to share with you. These fun, simple quizzes will help you learn about green home options for energy use, plumbing upgrades and more. Ready to test your knowledge of water conservation and green plumbing and electrical options?

• Learn more about home energy use and what you can do to reduce it with this quiz.
• To understand the green tax breaks available for upgrading to energy-efficient and water-conserving systems in your home, try this quiz.
• To learn more about the role green appliances can play in your home, this is the quiz for you.
• Interested in solar photovoltaic panels or a solar water heater in your home? Test your knowledge of these upgrades here.
• Now it’s time to test your toilet — try these three tests on your toilet to see if it’s wasting water.
• Tired of tests? Give yourself a break with this game: Designed for kids (but helpful for adults too!), the TipTank game helps players learn about water conservation.

Interested in green upgrades for your home in the Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill area? Learn more about our green plumbing services, solar water heaters or photovoltaic system installations.

The bucket list

Think of daily household activities that might waste water. Examples: Running the shower before you get in to make sure it’s hot enough, rinsing off vegetables, waiting for water to heat up before you wash dishes. Instead of letting water run down the drain, put a bucket under the faucet or showerhead to collect it. Then use what you’ve collected to water your lawn, garden, and indoor and outdoor plants.

Washing your car

When washing your car in your driveway, don’t leave the hose running endlessly. Instead, fill up a bucket, promptly turn the hose off as soon as the bucket is full, and use only the water in the bucket. Better yet, use a waterless car washing spray like this one from Eco Touch.

Double duty

Do the kids want to play around in the sprinkler? I don’t blame them — in Raleigh’s hot spring and summer weather, we all need a way to cool down. Next time you get out the sprinkler for playtime, set it up in the area of your lawn that needs watering the most. Ta da! The kids have fun and the lawn gets the water it needs. Multi-tasking at its finest.

Rain barrel

Set this up as soon as possible to take advantage of April showers. By summer, you’ll have gallons of rainwater to use for watering your garden, washing the dog, etc. during the summer. These days, rain barrels come in a variety of styles, including planter and faux stone options.

Watering your lawn

Positioning your lawn sprinklers to water your lawn – and not the driveway or sidewalk – is common sense, but it seems to be something we forget. Take a few minutes to make sure your lawn sprinklers are in the most effective spots, not wasting water on areas that don’t need it. Bonus points: Install a rain shut-off device on automatic sprinklers so you don’t waste water on rain-soaked lawns.

Here are some resources:

The EPA WaterSense program’s leak facts and figures.

Regional Water Providers Consortium how-to videos on leak detection and repair.

Progressive Plumbing & Drains contact info – call us for quick repairs!

Whatever your preference, we all know that at some point, you’ll have a plumbing repair that requires the attention of a professional plumbing contractor.

Of course, at Progressive Plumbing and Piping, we’d like to be the Raleigh plumbers you trust with your plumbing system maintenance! So why should you call Progressive? Well, first, we’re there when you need us – in fact, we’re available for emergency plumbing repairs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Another reason to choose Progressive as your plumber? We’re trusted all over Raleigh for fair prices, great results and personable service. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the testimonials on our site or these plumber reviews on Citysearch. We’ve been Raleigh’s go-to plumber since 1983, so you can trust us to know our stuff.

You can call us for plumbing repairs, installation and replacement of:

• Wells and pumps
• Garbage disposals
• Sewers and drains
• Toilets
• Water lines and pipes
• Bathtubs and showers
• Dishwashers
• Water heaters
• Septic systems
• Tankless water heaters

Plus, Progressive Plumbing and Piping offers green plumbing solutions to help you become more eco-friendly and conserve water and energy.

So this year, along with the usual list of resolutions, add this list of plumbing, HVAC, solar and electrical changes you can make at home to help the environment:

Resolution 1: Check your home for leaks in plumbing and piping. Or, call us to help! Leaky faucets, pipes and other plumbing fixtures can be an enormous waste of water.

Resolution 2: Use your dishwasher and clothes washing machine and dryer efficiently! Only run loads when these appliances are full – this will save gallons of water (in the case of the dishwasher and clothes washing machine) and lots of energy (in the case of the clothes dryer).

Resolution 3: Consider solar energy. There are more solar alternatives than just a rooftop solar array (though those are great). You can go solar with a solar water heater too! Contact Progressive’s solar division to learn how we can help your household switch to solar.

Resolution 4: Adapt to the climate, don’t make the climate adapt to you. Sure, turning up the heat in winter and cranking up the A/C in the summer makes sense. But it also uses a lot of energy. This year, don’t depend on your HVAC system to do all the work. Throw on a sweater if you’re cold; open the window and make a cold beverage if you’re hot.

Resolution 5: Turn off the lights and other electrical appliances when not in use. Ok, you’ve been hearing this your whole life. But have you ever made it a habit? Turn off the lights when you leave the room, unplug the blender when you’re finished with it, unplug your phone charger when it’s not in use, etc.

Resolution 6: Get creative! Reuse water from washing vegetables to water your houseplants. Open the blinds for light instead of turning on the lamp. Put a bucket under a leaky faucet to collect water to use for other purposes. Thinking of new ways to conserve water and energy can be fun, promise.

• Clean with environmentally-friendly cleaning products, whether store-bought or homemade
• Save energy at home with improvements as simple as filling some cracks
• Green your plumbing; consider installing high-efficiency kitchen and bathroom fixtures
• Calculate your water footprint…get inspired to conserve!
• Learn how long your trash will sit in a landfill — then recycle it instead
• Green your laundry process with methods like clothesline drying

As always, you can call Progressive to learn how we can help you go green, whatever size budget you’re working with.

According to McGraw Hill’s SmartMarket Report released in early June, water efficiency and conservation is quickly coming to the forefront of green design and construction.  Because buildings consume 20% of the world’s water, this issue is fast becoming a higher priority than even energy efficiency and waste reduction. 

How can you help the environment, stay ahead of the curve and add to your home value?  Here are some things Progressive Plumbing and Piping can do to help your home or business conserve water:

• Install low-flow showerheads and faucets, which can reduce your water usage by 60 percent
• Install low-flush and high-efficiency toilets, saving a family of four an average of 15,000 gallons of water a year
• Install a home leak-monitoring device
• Install faucet flow reducers, which can reduce faucet flow by 40 percent

There are several plumbing products on the market today designed for water conservation. Some are consumer friendly, meaning that the “average Joe” can install these items himself, and some would be recommended to be installed by a licensed plumber. These items include:

• 0.5/2.2 gallon per minute dual flow aerators for kitchen and break room sinks
• shower heads rated at 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 gallons per minute for residential and commercial use
• dual flush tank type toilets (0.75 gallons per flush for “#1″ and a full 1.6 gallons per flush for “#2″) Retro kits are available for existing 1.6 gpf toilets
• “sensor” type lavatory faucets that automatically shut off after use

If you’ve got a question you’d like answered just hit up the Comments section below!