I would say my families carbon footprint is relatively low. We carpool almost every day and use efficient lighting in our home. One downfall is our washing machines. They are very outdated and use up a ton of water and electricity. Should I have my own home I would have a more efficient and environmentally friendly washer dryer system. In addition I would add a double flow toilet to spare water and add solar panels to my house to produce electricity. One downfall of this plan is that more efficient products cost much more then standard products. Thats why so many peoples carbon footprints are high.  According to (solarpowerauthority.com) it costs between 7-9$ per watt, this translates to around $25,000 for a 5 kW system. A larger home would even cost up to $35,000.

According to www.solar-nation.org California is one of the best states in terms of solar power. A study conducted by the Clean Energy Technology Center at NC State University states that in San Jose, CA the Year 1 Monthly Savings are $186 and in Oakland, CA, $187.  One should take the weather and practicality of installment into consideration, but based off of this information solar panels could help not only the environment, but also save families money.

In my life, washing machines are also an area where my family does not use energy efficiently, and I would also install a more energy efficient washer system if I had my own house. I think that your idea of installing a double flow toilet to spare water is a great one! I recently saw some water usage reducing toilets when I went to Home Depot, and they seemed to be a great way to save energy. According to ecooptions.homedepot.com, replacing a 1.6 gallon-per-flush toilet with a more efficient toilet model can reduce water usage by 20% or more, and replacing a 3.5- gallon-per-flush toilet can reduce water usage by 60% or more. In comparison, that saves enough water to wash 100 loads of laundry. Of course the cost of the toilets is something to consider, but saving such large amounts of water could have huge environmental impacts. This shows how making such a small fix in a household can greatly improve energy efficiency.

In my house, we recently changed our regular toilets to double flow toilets and it is helping a lot with the water bill, so I suppose we are using less water than we did before. This is an easy way, especially for companies and places that have many bathrooms, to reduce the use of water.

Sometimes it doesnt really depend on one person but on the whole family. At my house washing and drying machines are a big problem since they are not used efficiently. Drying clothing outside might not be an option for everyone and it might be way more time consuming but it is a great way to lower your carbon footprint in that aspect.