This two bedroom house, a fully energy efficient house with a passive solar design, is four and a half years old and was built to be as sustainable as possible on a small block (530 square metres ) in Knoxfield - a suburb 27 km east of Melbourne. This energy efficient house is completely self sufficient in water, through its water saving gutter system from Smartflo , as well as a grey water recycling system for toilet flushing and garden use. The sustainable house also has a solar hot water service in series with a gas instantaneous boost for the winter months, and it produces at least 55% of its electricity from a 2.4 kW Photovoltaic Array solar panel on the roof.
Rainwater is collected from the colorbond roof via Smartflo gutters, which passes through a first flush device system so that the first run off from the roof, which may contain dust and contaminants, does not flow directly into the 6,000 gallon/ 27,240L polyethylene water tank beneath. Due to this water saving efficiency through the gutter system, the house is not connected to the mains water supply.
The water that is collected via this efficient roof gutter system is not wasted. Water saving has been achieved through the use of AAA water efficient appliances, such as water saving shower heads, an energy efficient front load washing machine and dishwasher, and 3/6 l dual flush toilets. Water from the bathroom and washing machine is collected, treated biologically by peat to Class A water, aerated and stored for toilet flushing and garden use.
The energy efficient house has no lawn to water, as coconut fibre is used for mulching the native Australian plants and other drought tolerant vegetation.
As a consequence of the above water saving features, it took three and a half years to use the same amount of water that the average non energy efficient Melbournian household uses in one year.
The choice of the Smartflo gutter system eliminates the constant necessity of keeping the gutters free of leaves, thereby improving the quality of the water collected. This is a definite plus for a retiree that wishes to benefit from water saving.
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Global warming is a serious threat and changes in weather patterns and reduced rainfall will affect us all. We need to value water as a precious resource, because we can’t live without it and shouldn’t waste it.
