Monday, April 1, 2013

Step 1d: IDEAS for Plumbing of Green Buildings

In the last post we discussed Ideas on Powering a sustainable green building.  As you may or may not know, this blog was created because we are building an Eco-friendly business incubator in upstate New York.  We definitely need more cost-efficient ways to power the home, so if you have ideas, feel free to comment on the blog posts or write on our Facebook Page, where we post links galore on Sustainable Living, Green Building, and Ideas on how to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
 
 
OK, we already jumped ahead and got STEP 2 done, let's finish up the last 2 parts of STEP 1.  Below I have pulled some pictures together to continue thinking about truly GREEN ECO FRIENDLY building techniques and ideas.  After the 1st picture we get to the meat of the post: Plumbing Ideas!!!
 

 
This photo is provided by Bernhardt Architecture Ltd in New Zealand.  Click the image to learn about the Eco-Friendly Architects

 
This roof looks somewhat optimal for collecting water from rain.  The design allows almost all the water falling on the roof to be collected for Building use.  Looks modern, not sure if the material the roof is made of is feasible for our plan.....

 
This seems to be the standard diagram floating around the Internet on how to collect water from your roof.  A few pictures with more description I added below.  My main issue with these systems as I see them is the "water pump".  You have to generate energy to pump the water back up to the top of the house, just to send it right back down. 

 
My solution to the "water pump" issue I am having with the current Rain Collecting Systems or Rain Harvesting Roofs is simple; place the Water Storage Tanks high in the air!  Let gravity do the rest of the work.  no need to create energy when the water already comes from above.  I just need to configure how I will set-up the storage tanks for water above the building...

 
The design will probably not entail a traditional roof, but rather a pool roof, something that is entirely collecting the rain water, and storing it, before we release a valve or faucet on the lower floor, and gravity sends the stream of water down forcefully!

 
I love how we can use the collected water for farming.  It's necessary to an Eco-Friendly environment to not have to go outside for anything!


This is a picture of a standard septic system.... The drainage, which is the end of the picture away from the house, is where the waste filters out into open land.  This should be strategically placed near your farming operation to fertilize the crops.
 
 The next post I will go over "Water" Ideas, but since I feel like we pretty much covered that, I will revisit our Power Ideas and get ready for Step 3: Gather Material (which will entail me visiting the property, for the first time since I purchased it, and surveying for raw materials.)
 
Till we meet in step 3....
 
-Nick
 
#TheHomeskapeProject