 |
 |
Green StrategiesGoing green, everyone wants it. So how do you do it? This is where we explore the green strategies that we employed when designing and building the LESS impact HOUSETM. These are easy to implement when building a new house and can help create a healthier, ec-friendly, more comfortable, energy-efficient home. Our Green Strategies area is an education resource for those interested in going green. Currently we're providing a general overview of the strategies for passive/active solar power, passive ventilation orientation, using rain and grey water (the house uses rain water for all needs). These are items built into the house. Later we would like to include the technical applications of green strategies. There is also resource strategies such as energy efficient appliances, low flow fixtures and dual flush toilets, using light colored finishes on surfaces reduce demand for lighting energy. Product and resource information can be explored in the project tour and sponsors and resources pages.
Rain and Grey WaterThe rainwater harvested from the butterfly roof and the flat roof flow through roof drains (to catch leaves, etc.), through piping to the under driveway cisterns. The cisterns have a three stage filter of bio-mechanical (reverse osmosis type), UV light (bacteria killers) and charcoal (taste)as well as pump. Water gathered in the cisterns will then be piped for use in potable areas for interior use, outside hose bibs (in case someone is drinking from a hose) and the swimming pool. The pool will have a system to monitor evaporation and refill as needed. Since the pool is not using chemicals (chlorine or salt water) but an ionization system (similar to that used by NASA for water purification in space flight) of silver & copper ions, when we back flush the filters to clean the sediment we will be able to route this water to the grey water system for re-use in flushing toilets and irrigation. We will also be capturing water from the showers, tubs, sinks (except cooking areas) and laundry (except when using harsh chemicals) to cycle through the greywater system. This is combined with the "burm & basin" style landscaping designed to keep the water falling on our site from running off into the stormwater system. We also will be using a special permeable paver system the utilizes multiple layers of sand/gravel "bedding" that grow more coarse below the pavers. That system has perforated piping at the bottom which then allow us to re-route the water falling on pedestrian areas (walkways, driveways, etc) to other planting areas (or even to our citerns if we chose, but are not). The goal is to keep all of the moisture falling on our site to be used on the site and only the "black water" from toilets and cooking sinks (potentially harmful bacteria) going down the waster water line. Tucson, I understand, has an under plublisized "audit" program that will verify (through dye tracing) which fixtures are sending waste water to the treatment plant. We intend to have this audit done upon completion to reduce the monthly waster water charge. (We hope to have $0.00 water useage charge!) One last word. After reading Brad Lancaster's book on Rain Water Harvesting for Drylands, I discovered one of the greatest challenges here in the desert is a swimming pool. When we bought the original house on this site Tucson was in a "stage 3" drought (for several years). By law, if we went into a "stage 4" drought owners were not allowed to fill or refill their swimming pools with municipal water. Secondly, with our dry heat, a standard size 16,000 gallon swimming pool with nothing done to it would lose 16,000 gallons per year to evaporation. We are installing a motorized, monitored (through our home automation system), lockable cover (if the cover is not locked, the security system will not arm). That allows us to not put a 4' fence around the pool for safety and it cuts the evaporation by over 1/3. You may also notice from the pictures that our pool is not "standard" size. It is a 10,000 gallon pool (including built in spa) that, because of the cover, should only require approximately 6-7,000 gallons per year to maintain. With the 25,000 gallons of cisterns, a split monsoon season (mostly July/August but lighter in January), and low flow appliances (Electrolux/Frigidaire dishwashers & W/D) and fixtures (Kohler), we hope to have more than enough water for both potable and pool purposes. If we find after a couple of years that we are short (maybe too much entertaining?) then we can add another cistern (our roof can harvest a total of over 40,000 gallons with 12" of rainfall per year). |
