There’s perhaps no smarter (and easier) place in your home to save water and energy than in the bathroom. From the toilet and faucet to the showerhead and lighting, the entire bathroom is a chance to save water and energy.

The easiest way to conserve in the bathroom is through your faucet, tub and shower fixtures, and toilet. Treating and delivering the water we receive daily uses a sizeable amount of energy, and, according to the EPA, running your faucet for five minutes uses about as much energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours. So, if we could choose to use less water, why wouldn’t we?

WaterSense

The plumbing industry’s efficiency standard (equivalent to electricity’s better-known ENERGY STAR program) is WaterSense. In order to earn the prestigious WaterSense seal of approval, faucets and fixtures must, among other things:

• Perform as well or better than their less efficient counterparts
• Be 20% more water efficient than average products in that category
• Realize water savings on a national level

Just because WaterSense-rated bathroom faucets save water, you don’t have to spend more, proven by this list of WaterSense-rated bathroom faucets under $100.

For as few as 0.5 gallons per minute (like Kohler’s Touchless bathroom faucet), you could round out your bathroom with water-conserving faucets. In fact, touchless faucets are making their way into more residential bathrooms.

A showerhead can be another source of excess water usage (the shower accounts for 17% of all indoor water use), and it can also be a site of extreme water savings. Look for showerheads with flow rates that don’t exceed 2.5 gpm.

American Standard’s eco-friendly showerheads have a flow rate of 1.5 gpm or less. And Hansgrohe’s EcoAIR handshower use something called AIR-injection technology, making its flow rate of 1.6 gpm feel more like 2.5 gpm. Suddenly, lingering in the shower doesn’t seem so wasteful.

Water-efficient toilets are quickly becoming standard in both residential and commercial applications. For instance, all American Standard toilets feature a gallons-per-flush (gpf) measurement of 1.6 or less, and its H2Option dual flush fixture uses a measly 0.9 gpf.

To see how much savings your bathroom can enjoy with WaterSense fixtures, check out the EPA’s water-saving calculator here.

Energy Star

If you don’t want to continue saving energy and money, then by all means just run those feeble bathroom lights and rattling bath fan until they burn a hole in your wallet. Or you could replace them with ultra-efficient ENERGY STAR-rated fixtures.

Bathroom lighting with the ENERGY STAR label is certified as being very efficient and is brighter than ever while using less energy. To determine exactly which lighting is ideal for your unique bathroom, look at this easy-to-follow lighting formula here.

Bathroom ventilation can be the difference between a healthy environment and one that’s ripe for mold. ENERGY STAR-rated bath fans clear the air using less energy. And just for you, we’ve simplified finding just the right product with our bath fan calculator here.