Green Mechanical Contractor

EVENTS, WEB SITE SEEK TO EXPLAIN WATERSENSE TO HOMEOWNERS

Kohler has launched a Web site, save Wateramerica.com, and has partnered with its wholesalers to stage events to educate consumers on water-saving plumbing fixtures.

Kohler and its wholesale partners are staging tent sales to demonstrate the latest technology in water-saving plumbing products. The events demonstrate to customers the environmental and financial benefits of saving water inside the home and how easy it is for them to accomplish.

“The concept for the events is a continuation of saveWateramerica.com, bringing together our distributor partners, municipalities and water utilities to offer rebates and to have local plumbers there,” says Nikki Brigham, manager for wholesale marketing at Kohler Co.

Brigham notes that there are more than 100 million 3.5- gpf toilets installed today, and homeowners have a great opportunity to save water and money.

“What are three easy things consumers can do in their own homes to save water,” explains Brigham. “They can replace the toilet with an he T or a 1.6-gpf toilet. even converting to a 1.6-gpf toilet from a 3. 5 saves a lot, but the optimal choice is a 1.28-gpf he T. The second is using a water-conserving showerhead. We have two models on the market at 1.75 gpm. Depending on where the Watersense showerhead specification comes out, we’ve gone to 1.75. We feel that’s the maximum decrease that you can go and still get good performance. The third is choosing faucets with water-saving aerators. If you choose a faucet with a water-saving aerator, you can save 14,700 gals. per year per faucet at 1.5 gpm. Using a water-conserving showerhead can save 7,700 gals. per year, and installing an he T can save 16,500 gals. per year, or a total of 39,000 gals. per year.”

The educational events are primarily for homeowners who are largely not familiar with

Watersense, Brigham says. some consumers have heard of it but don’t know the criteria or how a product earns the Watersense label. Drawing a parallel with energy star seems to strike a chord with them.

Kohler and the wholesalers train area plumbers two to four weeks before the event. each event has a dedicated Web site with a list of trained plumbers, who are invited to the tent sale to get installation jobs or give advice. The firms have staged training for 30 plumbers from 20 organizations up to larger

New York City gatherings of 100 plumbers from 60 companies.

The wholesalers offer special pricing to the consumers at the event, which are typically held on a saturday. Water utilities are brought into the mix because most offer rebates for the installation of Watersense products.

The events often feature Master Plumber ed Del Grande who shows the difference in water use between toilets by flushing a 3.5-gpf toilet and a 1.28-gpf toilet into clear plastic tanks. a working faucet display shows a 2.2-gpm and a 1.5- gpm lavatory faucet side-by-side to show there’s no practical difference in performance. homeowners often are introduced to dual-flush toilets for the first time at the events.

Plumbers are happy that Kohler and the distributors are getting them involved, and in today’s economy, plumbers feel it drives sales and gives them an opportunity to get into the home to make more sales, Brigham says.

“It’s important to keep the plumbers involved with the distributors throughout the entire process,” she says.

Kohler and its distributors have held 20 events and plan 25–30 more for the balance of 2009.

Kohler launched save Wateramerica.com as an online campaign to teach homeowners how easy it is to save water. With the launch of the site and help from Web visitors, Kohler will provide up to $1 million worth of water-saving products to habitat for humanity.

Visitors to save Wateramerica.com are asked to participate in a three-question quiz, and for every completed quiz, Kohler will donate $1 worth of product to habitat for humanity, which will be tracked in real time on the Web site. The short quiz calculates how much water and money the visitor’s family could save if they replaced their old toilets.

Kohler has already guaranteed to provide $500,000 worth of product to habitat for humanity, and is encouraging homeowners to log on to its new site and “virtually” match the pledge toward reaching the goal of $1 million in product donations. The full donation of $1 million would equate to Kohler donating enough plumbing products to complete nearly 600 habitat homes. The products will help build sustainable homes.

Information about water-saving products is easily accessible on the site, which includes a database of available toilet rebate programs throughout the country. These rebates, ranging from $25 to $150,