House #2
Who does House #2 belong to?
House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet ( 4 bedrooms ) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F. ) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.Answer here.
Cross Posted at Classical Values and at The Astute Bloggers
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3 comments:
sorry about the problem with the pictures on my site. My contributor is new at posting on blogs and didn't know the rules. I should have caught it.
George
Interesting.
One minor quibble with the article: I suspect that house #2 actually separates household gray water, e.g. kitchen, shower, laundry and lavatory waste flows, from the toilet flows. The former would likely get pretreatment and storage in the cistern for irrigation. The latter would likely go to a conventional septic tank and leach field. Not to say it couldn't be done, but treatment (underground) of sanitary waste for reuse as gray water defeats the purpose of energy and cost conservation.
House #3
In the same locale as House #2, but lacking some amenities. Owner claims to have a low carbon footprint, discounting her tour bus. Chemical porta-potty used by owner and guests imposes extra load on local sanitary disposal facilities. Lays light on the land because owner frequently packs it in and moves on.
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