HILLSBORO, ORE.— Caroma donated high-efficiency dual-flush toilets to help Habitat for Humanity, Baldwin County, Ala., with their first certified green home. Since 1992, Baldwin County Habitat for Humanity has built 72 homes and is expecting 75 more homes built in the next five years.

The Caroma high-efficiency toilets donated to Habitat provide an average flush volume of 0.96-gpf. The family of six that is moving into this house will save more than 7,000 gallons of water per year over the nationally-mandated 1.6-gpf. toilet.

“Habitat for Humanity is a great organization that helps families in need of adequate housing,” said Derek Kirkpatrick, general manager at Caroma North America. “It is exciting to see that people understand the need to protect our most valuable resource of water and to install fixtures and implement green building practices into home construction. Combining our high-efficiency toilets with other conservation techniques they’ve implemented, Habitat is an organization to admire for its dedication and concern for people and the environment.”

“When we began this project, our goal was to build a home to help a needy family obtain better housing,” explained Alex Cary, construction manager at Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County. “It was also important to provide significant utility savings for the family that was moving in along with reduced lifecycle costs while striving for U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification. The Caroma donation of water-conserving toilets will help not only reduce water and energy costs, but also help obtain LEED certification.”

According to Cary, this project will be used as a prototype for future homes and to promote that green building can be done affordably.

“We are extremely pleased to have Caroma toilets installed, and we look forward to seeing how much water and money is saved compared to other nearby residences,” said Cary.