Imagine living in a large house that has all of the luxuries that normal houses have, such as a dishwasher, laundry machines, electronics, etc. except it’s almost completely self sustaining, without relying on city water or the electricity grid.
Twelve years ago, inventor Rolf Paloheimo built a self-sufficient home in Toronto. He invented his own water filtration system that collects rainwater from the roof and filters it for drinking water and dish washing. He then re-filters the water again to be used for the shower, washing machine and toilets.
All of the “solid waste” that goes through the toilets gets composted. The house is powered by a 2,700 watt solar panel system on Paloheimo’s roof. Unfortunately the solar panels aren’t enough to support their entire power needs, so they have to borrow some energy from Toronto Hydro, but his hydro bills are less than $1000 a year.
Poloheimo wants to put wind turbines on his roof to make up for the lacking energy that the solar panels aren’t able to produce, but he doesn’t think the city or his neighbours will allow him to do that, so for now he’s sticking to his current arrangement. Read the full story here for more details.
Image courtesy of www.healthyhousesystem.com
Interesting…
what a dump!!! if i were his neighbour i would petition the city to have him scrap that eyesore and go geothermal instead!!! nasty!!!
(ok – just kidding, cool concept. i’m not sure i’m ready to drink my own re-fitered toilet water, but hey, that’s just me. i think the europeans are a few years ahead of us on this idea.)
– g
Mike Holmes eco-house is way nicer!
Go check out the episode “Lien on Me”.
That is great! It would be of interest I think for most of us to be self-sustaining…relying on one electrical/gas giant, makes my subject to whatever changes they do with the price, and i have to pay for it!
Is a completely self-sustaining home really possible? It would be interesting to see. But going for renewable energy sources is a step in the right direction.
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Is toronto sunny enough to support solar panels?
– solar pv panels analyst
I hope it really works. A fully self-sustaining home would be a dream come true.
Thanks
This is great! Solar power is a relatively new energy source, it may easily become the most important energy source of the future. solar panels norfolk
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