SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Inmates are allowed to do their own laundry. We provide laundry machines so inmate can wash their clothes. The laundry machines are home models and not industrial. They are running all day and night, they break down and are replace a lot. They use body wash that we give them for free instead of laundry soap. They wash their clothes several time a day and waste water and electricity. Plus Inmate hid contraband in the... more »

The autoflush toilets waste a tremendous amount of water. The toilets will flush before it needs to and sometimes several times on its own. This is extremely wasteful and inefficient. We should be able to manage to push a handle down by ourselves. Also, the settings for the AC & heat are way too cold in the summer and too warm in the winter, which is extremely wasteful. Each building needs to be looked at separately... more »

Currently, there is a high cost of lawn maintenance that exists across government facilities. The cost is heightened for low rainfall, high temperature areas. I know this personally as my last duty station had summer temps above 100F, but well maintained grassy areas that were in near perfect condition; which was watered during the peak of day or anytime that was necessary. None of the locals had a lawn of such high... more »

I am a Summer Intern at HUD and a Full-time student at the University of Maryland. In our dorms at UMD, we have sensor toilets that detects how long you've been on the toilet. Although this may sound silly, the toilet accurately predicts what type of waste you are emitting (putting it kindly). The toilet then determines how much water is needed to flush away the waste. For bigger projects, more water is used. And for... more »

I have been to a few VA facilities since I started working at the VA 2 years ago and I have noticed the exact same thing in every woman's restroom I used. As soon as I turn on the water I feel like like skin will be blasted off of my hands.

My solution. At each sink in the facility turn down the amount of water by 1/4 or 1/2 a turn for both the hot and cold water. This will greatly reduce the amount of water consumption.... more »

Automatic flush toilets are a horrible waste of water because many of them flush several times per user (especially when the user has to deal with nylons and the sensor keeps detecting movement within the stall.) Some even flush when someone just passes by the stall.

Automatic Sinks can also be a huge waste of water (and electricity) since the user cannot turn the water off immediately when they are finished.

Paper... more »

Automatic flush toilets have recently been installed in the government office where I work. These fixtures are equipped with two methods of flush control: a laser motion sensor triggered by movement within a certain range, and a secondary manual control. The manual functions with options both to flush using less water and for full flushes. The motion sensor arrangement, frequently flushes both while the stall is occupied... more »