There are many ways to reduce your gas, electric, and water bills.  Some can be pretty expensive – and make you question the viability of them.  Sure, “going green” is a good feeling, but will it save you green?  Not in all cases.  Today, though, I’m going to show you a quick, easy fix that doesn’t cost much, and will pay for itself over and over again.

Replace your showerhead with a more efficient unit

A “regular” showerhead has a flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, or GPM.  The Evolve Roadrunner has a much lower flow rate – 1.59 GPM.  That means it uses about 36% less water.  For every 5 minutes you’re in the shower, the Roadrunner will keep 4.5 gallons of water from going down the drain.  If you’re a 15 minute shower kind of person, that’s over 13 gallons of water saved each and every time you shower.

It’s not just water that you’re saving

Saving all that water is great, no doubt.  But unless you take icy cold showers, then you will be saving an absolute ton of energy.  Whether your water heater is powered by gas or electric, less water used means less energy used.  And that means more money saved.

ShowerStart technology

Before you hop in the shower, you turn it on to let the water warm up.  It’s ok, I do it to.  No one likes to shower in freezing water while it gets around to warming up.  You probably turn the water on, then go do a little of this, a little of that.  After you’re done  ( 3, 4, 5 minutes later ), your shower is ready.  It was probably ready long before you were, though.  That means more water and energy wasted.  The Roadrunner has something called ShowerStart technology, which senses when the water is warmed up, and then turns the flow down to a trickle.  You’ll notice the sound change right away, and know that your shower is ready.  Instead of gallons being wasted every minute, it’s just a small trickle.  Yet another way the Roadrunner saves you money.

It pays for itself

Evolve estimates that the Roadrunner will result in $230 in yearly utility savings, including 7,665 gallons of water.  At $230 per year, that’s about $19 per month in savings.  In other words, you’ll pay for the Roadrunner in just over two months ( it costs $39.95 ).  It’s one of those “no brainer” purchases, really.  I’ll place an order next month when I have a bit of extra cash to spend.  On another note, if you don’t like the feeling of low-flow shower heads, Evolve also sells regular flow heads that still use the ShowerStart technology.  They will also pay for themselves, but will take a few more months to do so.

Even if you’re not a “green” kind of person, surely you can appreciate saving money.  If it’s better for the environment, then so much the better.