Estimating how much pollution the Drainwater Heat Recovery System use can eliminate is difficult as it depends upon type of energy available in a particular region. Burning one gallon of oil can release 22.5 pounds of CO2 plus 0.78 pounds of NOx emissions. Conserving 7 billion gallons of oil means eliminating about 80 million tons of CO2 plus 2.7 million tons of NOx . According to EPA standards, if just 6 million all-electric homes were to install the Drainwater Heat Recovery System, U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions would drop by over 20 million tons.

The U.S. EPA's Energy Star Program promotes the conservation of electricity because saving $1 billion annually can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 20 million tons. Adding the Drainwater Heat Recovery System to 6 million all-electric homes will reduce these emissions by more than 20 million tons!

Adding multi-housing, commercial, industrial, state and federal usage increases potential savings to over 7 billion equivalent gallons of oil per year. In fact, over a trillion kWh (= 3413 trillion Btu) go down North America’s drains each year.

See our "Why Solar?" page for more discussion on how pollution is affecting our planet.