One-FIFTH the water!

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

The biggest electricity consumer in my house is the fridge, with over half the useage every month. I suppose I could do away with it and eat out a lot more.

Or you could go back to the time tested technology of the icebox, which requires no external power source. Build an icehouse (traditionally insulated with sawdust), fill it with ice harvested from a nearby lake during your long winter, and use your ice prongs to haul a block of ice to your icebox twice a week to keep it cold. No worries about a compressor failure or extended power outages ruining your food.

[pete c]

Some are turned off to composting toilets thinking they are all like smelly old outhouses.

After using a modern composting toilet, I think they are actually preferable to water toilets. This is because they use ventilation systems that actually draw a slight vacuum when the seat is up, making using one of these things actually more odor free than a water toilet.

If I was going to build a house and could convince the wife, this is the way I would go. If I had a holding tank that I had to pay to get emptied, I would definitely do it. Would rather send my gray water into the yard to make the yard/garden green, then soil it with crap and then pay to have it hauled.

Imagine how well your garden would do on that gray water and manure diet.

[ron]

well here in calif. my town Los Osos we are getting a sewer plant so when we flush its going to cots 120-180 mo. est only as for now and is based on your water usage. My water cost every mo for 3 is 95.00,I never use my minimum alotment . I have gray water for all sinks and recycle my water for the fruit trees, I also have sandy soil and a well. PG&E the electric co has gone to smart meters , remotely read and the rates are thru the roof. we dont have the right to go off grid, b. s. i say. welcome to calif.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by basjoos

Or you could go back to the time tested technology of the icebox...

The other issue with iceboxes is dealing with the water that is created as the ice melts, but I wonder if that could be reused for an evaporative cooling system. Perhaps some sort of semi-automated fan and an absorbent material that the melt water runs through could become a swamp-cooler.

Cool your food and your house!

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by ron

well here in calif. my town Los Osos we are getting a sewer plant so when we flush its going to cots 120-180 mo. est only as for now and is based on your water usage. My water cost every mo for 3 is 95.00,I never use my minimum alotment . I have gray water for all sinks and recycle my water for the fruit trees, I also have sandy soil and a well. PG&E the electric co has gone to smart meters , remotely read and the rates are thru the roof. we dont have the right to go off grid, b. s. i say. welcome to calif.

When I purchased my house, I received a letter that said sewer charges will be based on water usage. For the first couple months there was no water usage, but I still received a sewer bill. Apparently they charge $34/mo regardless of use, for all eternity. I called the sewer company and told them they could discontinue service and I wasn't going to pay the bill. They responded that they can't discontinue service and that they would put a lien on the house.

I can't believe it is legal to take ownership of a persons home just because they wouldn't pay for a service they didn't want, but were forced to have.

[ron]

can you say corporate america

[Frank Lee]

All the propaganda shoved down my throat in school said we are the free-est country... nah, I don't think so. :/

[jtbo]

My 4 year average is 583 gallons / month of water.

Computer and water heating are most electricity using things here, both take about the same as I don't use much of hot water. I do have own well too, but it would need some work to be done to get it to usable.

I could still reduce water usage a bit by changing to dry toilet which is in plans and to use well water for bathing and for washing frying pan etc. maybe even for drinking, but it might not provide enough water for all of that.

Dirt water well costs 100 euros to empty and it is currently emptied yearly, but that is going to change in future to some other method, maybe I can move completely independent in regards of water and waste water.

With electricity I pay almost 20€/month just from right to use it, so I do search alternatives a lot, but to store electricity for 5 months use is still too expensive and currently I pay lot less from electricity than I use than what I pay from possibility to use it.

Soon it might be also reality that there is no longer possibility to be so independent from bought services, so I try to make transition quickly so that I would have my freedom of choice. Just would need something like lottery winning...


Working from home means that I don't need to be shower fresh every day, I don't need to wash silly amount of clothes either as I don't need to wear so high number of clothing in a week, also no sweating reduces need of showering rather a lot.

I don't need to flush toilet every time, if it is liquid one can empty his bladder quite few times and use single flush, of course impossible in households that contain female members.

Cold water is really not cold until you run it for a while, so washing hands can be done with room temperature water easily, then one can plan bit of water usage and take drinking water to bigger container after dish washing etc. put container to fridge and take water from there, reduces water usage and it is not taking much of electricity either.

Why put that water into drain, with wash basin one can collect the water and use it to tomatoes etc or if soap water, then one can always put it to toilet or throw outside as long as soap is nature friendly type which anyone should use anyways as it does make many more things possible with water.

It is bit like hypermiling, to plan ahead and 'coast' (use wash basin collect water instead of draining water and taking new one, which is like accelerating and braking at traffic lights).

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by pete c

After using a modern composting toilet, I think they are actually preferable to water toilets. This is because they use ventilation systems that actually draw a slight vacuum when the seat is up, making using one of these things actually more odor free than a water toilet.

Good for constipation

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

When I purchased my house, I received a letter that said sewer charges will be based on water usage. For the first couple months there was no water usage, but I still received a sewer bill. Apparently they charge $34/mo regardless of use, for all eternity. I called the sewer company and told them they could discontinue service and I wasn't going to pay the bill. They responded that they can't discontinue service and that they would put a lien on the house.

I can't believe it is legal to take ownership of a persons home just because they wouldn't pay for a service they didn't want, but were forced to have.

It's a safety thing... mandated like seat belts and airbags in cars. Granted, there is sometimes no logic behind it (if you aren't using it then why charge you for it), but each home must have an approved system for handling human waste (either a septic system or a connection to the city sewer system). So unlike water, electric, phone, you can't just 'turn off' sewer.