This measure yields massive savings at low cost and you can put it in place straight away. That’s true low-hanging fruit!

Savings potential

A water-saving shower head reduces the rate of water flow per minute from 18 litres to around 9 litres, giving you a savings potential of around 50 percent.

Background

Up to 18 litres of water per minute flow through our normal taps and shower heads. And in drinking water quality! That’s an awful, awful lot. Especially considering that a quarter of humanity has no access to running water. Water-saving shower heads are an easy way to help reduce your consumption.

Here’s how it works

• Do a quick test: not sure if you already have a water-saving shower head? Hold a 1-litre measuring jug under the shower and turn it on. If it takes longer than 8 seconds until it’s full, you have one.
• Find your shower head: water-saving shower heads are available in various designs. You can find them from as little as 20 francs.
• Install it and you’re ready to go: installation is simple – unscrew the old shower head by hand and screw on the new one. Done.

One good way to reduce CO₂ emissions from showers is to take a shorter shower. It could hardly be easier. This tip is not only good for the environment, it’s also good for your skin and hair health.

Savings potential

Of course, the savings potential with this tip depends on how much shorter your showers are. So every second counts.

Background

Before water can even come out of your shower, it first has to be treated, transported and heated. All of this consumes energy and produces CO₂.

Most of us could take much shorter showers, although doing so involves changing our habits.

By the way, shorter showers are also good for your skin – because the skin is usually quite sensitive. Not only excessive temperatures, but also showering every day or even several times a day can damage your skin. When we take a shower, we attack the skin’s natural protective layer.

Here’s how it works

• Measure the time: the next time you take a shower, time it to get a feel for how long it takes. If your bathroom turns into a Turkish bath while you’re showering, it’s an indication that the shower is too long and too hot.
• Set a timer: try to steadily reduce your shower time to the point where you still feel clean and revitalized. Set a timer to help you or try to get finished in the time it takes for your favourite song.
• Turn off the water in between: when shampooing your hair, shaving or whatever, remember to turn off the water.

Do you want to reduce the environmental impact of your shower? Then simply turn down the temperature – and do your health a favour at the same time. Easy!

Savings potential

Cooler showers are not only good for your skin, but also for the environment. Because every degree Celsius reduces your impact by around 5 percent. Reducing the temperature from 40 to 35 degrees yields an improvement of 25 percent!

Here’s how it works

• Take lukewarm showers: lukewarm water between 30 and 35 degrees is ideal. It cleanses your skin gently without irritating or drying it out, and it opens the pores.
• Try hot and cold showers: start hot, turn off the water to lather up and finish with a cold shower. Perfect for your health and the environment. Hot and cold showers get the circulation going and can stabilize blood pressure in the long term, as they cause the blood vessels to dilate and constrict alternately.

A simple calculation: less water equals less CO₂. By not turning the water up full, you can quickly save 50 percent. It couldn’t be easier.

Savings potential

Without any saving equipment and with the water turned up full, 18 litres of water per minute flow through the shower head. And in drinking water quality. By not turning the water up so much, you reduce the flow rate and save both water and CO₂.

Here’s how it works

• Don’t turn it up full: don’t turn the water up full in the shower. Test how much water you really need to shower.
• Measure and reflect: installing a shower computer is a good aid. It will show you how much water you use and help you develop an awareness of it.
• Install a water-saving shower head: the easiest thing to do is probably to install a water-saving shower head. This limits the flow rate by 50 percent without you having to remember to do it yourself.

Did you know that apart from heating, hot water is the biggest energy guzzler in the home?

Savings potential

A bathtub holds up to 150 litres of water on average. A five-minute shower uses 60 litres of water at most, saving 90 litres of hot water a day from going down the drain.

Here’s how it works

Important and nowadays perhaps a matter of course: turn off the water when lathering up, shaving and whatever else you do in the shower. Otherwise your shower water consumption can quickly double, putting paid to your savings.

On average, appliances and devices in standby mode account for around a tenth of electricity consumption. In Switzerland, this amounts to around 2 billion kilowatt hours per year. Sound like a lot of waste? It is indeed.

Savings potential

2 billion kilowatt hours is roughly equivalent to the consumption of all companies and households in the city of Zurich, or a quarter of the electricity produced by the Gösgen nuclear power plant. A great deal of energy that is so to speak simply thrown out the window in standby mode.

Background

You should of course always switch off the lights after you. We all know that. But hardly anyone realizes that every household squanders as much energy in standby mode as the energy used by five energy-saving light bulbs in continuous use. We would never leave those five lights on day and night for a whole year – we’d be very quick to switch them off.

Some devices consume a particularly large amount of electricity in standby mode. These “bad boys” include stereo systems, smart speakers, clock radios, televisions, games consoles, modems, printers and computer screens.

Here’s how it works

• Install power strips: try to plug as many electrical devices as possible into a power strip, such as stereo systems, routers, televisions, monitors and printers. This allows you to switch them all off with a single click when you don’t need them.
• Use timers: timers are a convenient way of switching off devices at certain times when they don’t need to be on standby anyway. One example is the Wi-Fi router. Who needs it at night? 
• Remove the fuse: if you’re going away for quite a while, for example on a trip, your best bet is to switch off the power completely. You can do this by simply removing the fuse for the relevant areas.

Did you know that land use and the construction and maintenance of buildings have a massive impact on the environment? You can reduce your carbon footprint by sharing your living space with other people.

Savings potential

Every square metre of living space generates around 1.2 kilograms of CO₂ per month. For every person you share this space with, you reduce these emissions proportionately.

Did you know that a room temperature lowered by 1 degree means around 6 percent less energy consumption? This not only saves you energy, but also a good deal of money. So what are you waiting for – go for the temperature controls!

Savings potential

Every degree less reduces your energy consumption and therefore your CO₂ emissions by 6 percent. For example, if you turn your average room temperature down from 22 degrees to 19 degrees, you will reduce your CO₂ emissions by almost 20 percent.

Background

Heating and electricity together account for almost half of everyday CO₂ emissions. If you go without a T‑shirt temperature of 23 degrees and keep below 20 degrees in your living room, you can reduce your heating consumption significantly. In the kitchen and bedroom, the ideal comfort climate can even be a little cooler.

Here’s how it works

Thermostats are marked with numbers. However, these numbers are not the same as the temperature. The numbers indicate how wide the inlet valve is open.

• 3 on the scale creates a pleasant room temperature of around 21 degrees.
• 1 to 2 are best suited for the bedroom.
• For the kitchen and hall, 2 on the scale or around 18 degrees is also adequate.
• The bathroom can be given 22 to 24 degrees.

These are only recommendations and we realize that temperature perception varies from person to person.

The way you heat your home has an enormous impact on your carbon footprint. Because heating requires a lot of energy. And depending on how it is produced, it can generate little to a lot of CO₂. So it’s important to take a closer look and take action if need be.

Savings potential

By switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, you can massively reduce your footprint at a stroke. For example, heating with wood pellets produces 13 times less CO₂ compared to an oil-fired heating system. This means that with the same emissions, you could heat for no less than 13 years instead of just one. Or heat 13 houses instead of just one.

Background

Heating buildings with fossil energy sources such as oil and gas is one of the main causes of global warming. Burning oil and gas releases CO₂ that has been stored underground for millions of years. This intensifies the greenhouse effect and warms the earth.

Heating systems that utilize renewable energy sources can help here. These include for example pellet heating systems, heat pumps and district heating systems where applicable, which emit massively less CO₂ when generating heat.

Here’s how it works

For tenants and property owners:

Switch your energy quality. A good way to make an impact is to choose your energy quality. For gas, district heating, pellets and electricity, you can choose a more sustainable quality. While this does involve somewhat higher costs, it reduces the CO₂ impact significantly. Whichever the case, it is worth your while getting more information from your energy supplier.

For property owners:

plan the switch. Unfortunately, neither property owners nor tenants can simply replace their heating system overnight, as this usually entails a major investment. However, it’s important to seize the opportunity presented when a system needs to be replaced because of its age.

More on this topic in our blog

When it comes to saving energy in the home, most of us think of lights, washing machines and heating. But we often forget about hot water. Here, we consume an astonishing amount of resources. Time to shed some light on this area and take action where needed.

Replace your hot water system and save over 29 kilograms of CO₂ per month (based on a daily ten-minute shower at 37 to 39 degrees if you use a heat pump instead of gas).

Savings potential

Did you know that the way your water is heated makes a huge difference to the environmental impact of your shower? For example, heating it with heating oil produces 13 times more CO₂ than doing so with wood pellets.

Here’s how it works

For tenants and property owners:

Switch your energy quality. A good way to make an impact is to choose your energy quality. For gas, district heating, pellets and electricity, you can choose a more sustainable quality. While this does involve somewhat higher costs, it reduces the CO₂ impact significantly. Whichever the case, it is worth your while getting more information from your energy supplier.

For property owners:

plan the switch. Unfortunately, neither property owners nor tenants can simply replace their heating system overnight, as this usually entails a major investment. However, it’s important to take the opportunity presented when a system needs to be replaced because of its age.

More on this topic in our blog