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citation needed in the classic roman house domus household water was provided from a cistern the impluvium which was a decorative feature of the atrium the house s main public space it was fed by downspout tiles from the inward facing roof opening the compluvium often water lilies were grown in it to purify the water wealthy households often supplemented the rain with a small fountain fed from a city s cistern the impluvium always had an overflow drain so it could not flood the house 8 9 modern cisterns are usually large plastic tanks gravity tanks on short towers are reliable so pump repairs are less urgent the least expensive bulk cistern is a fenced pond or pool at ground level reducing autonomy reduces the size and expense of cisterns many autonomous homes can reduce water use below 10 us gallons 38 l per person per day so that in a drought a month of water can be delivered inexpensively via truck self delivery is often possible by installing fabric water tanks that fit the bed of a pick up truck it can be convenient to use the cistern as a heat sink or trap for a heat pump or air conditioning system however this can make cold drinking water warm and in drier years may decrease the efficiency of the hvac system solar stills can efficiently produce drinking water from ditch water or cistern water especially high efficiency multiple effect humidification designs which separate the evaporator s and condenser s new technologies like reverse osmosis can create unlimited amounts of pure water from polluted water ocean water and even from humid air watermakers are available for yachts that convert seawater and electricity into potable water and brine atmospheric water generators extract moisture from dry desert air and filter it to pure water sewage edit see also anaerobic digestion resource edit a composting toilet composting toilets use bacteria to decompose human feces into useful odourless sanitary compost the process is sanitary because soil bacteria eat the human pathogens as well as most of the mass of the waste nevertheless most health authorities forbid direct use of humanure for growing food 10 the risk is microbial and viral contamination as well as heavy metal toxicity in a dry composting toilet the waste is evaporated or digested to gas mostly carbon dioxide and vented so a toilet produces only a few pounds of compost every six months to control the odor modern toilets use a small fan to keep the toilet under negative pressure and exhaust the gasses to a vent pipe 11 some home sewage treatment systems use biological treatment usually beds of plants and aquaria that absorb nutrients and bacteria and convert greywater and sewage to clear water this odor and color free reclaimed water can be used to flush toilets and water outside plants when tested it approaches standards for potable water in climates that freeze the plants and aquaria need to be kept in a small greenhouse space good systems need about as much care as a large aquarium electric incinerating toilets turn excrement into a small amount of ash they are cool to the touch have no water and no pipes and require an air vent in a wall they are used in remote areas where use of septic tanks is limited usually to reduce nutrient loads in lakes nasa s bioreactor is an extremely advanced biological sewage system it can turn sewage into air and water through microbial action nasa plans to use it in the crewed mars mission another method is nasa s urine to water distillation system a big disadvantage of complex biological sewage treatment systems is that if the house is empty the sewage system biota may starve to death waste edit sewage handling is essential for public health many diseases are transmitted by poorly functioning sewage systems the standard system is a tiled leach field combined with a septic tank the basic idea is to provide a small system with primary sewage treatment sludge settles to the bottom of the septic tank is partially reduced by anaerobic digestion and fluid is dispersed in the leach field the leach field is usually under a yard growing grass septic tanks can operate entirely by gravity and if well managed are reasonably safe septic tanks have to be pumped periodically by a vacuum truck to eliminate non reducing solids failure to pump a septic tank can cause overflow that damages the leach field and contaminates ground water septic tanks may also require some lifestyle changes such as not using garbage disposals minimizing fluids flushed into the tank and minimizing non digestible solids flushed into the tank for example septic safe toilet paper is recommended however septic tanks remain popular because they permit standard plumbing fixtures and require few or no lifestyle sacrifices composting or packaging toilets make it economical and sanitary to throw away sewage as part of the normal garbage collection service they also reduce water use by half and eliminate the difficulty and expense of septic tanks however they require the local landfill to use sanitary practices incinerator systems are quite practical the ashes are biologically safe and less than 1 10 the volume of the original waste but like all incinerator waste are usually classified as hazardous waste traditional methods of sewage handling include pit toilets latrines and outhouses these can be safe inexpensive and practical they are still used in many regions storm drains edit drainage systems are a crucial compromise between human habitability and a secure sustainable watershed paved areas and lawns or turf do not allow much precipitation to filter through the ground to recharge aquifers they can cause flooding and damage in neighbourhoods as the water flows over the surface towards a low point typically elaborate capital intensive storm sewer networks are engineered to deal with stormwater in some cities such as the victorian era london sewers or much of the old city of toronto the storm water system is combined with the sanitary sewer system in the event of heavy precipitation the load on the sewage treatment plant at the end of the pipe becomes too great to handle and raw sewage is dumped into holding tanks and sometimes into surface water autonomous buildings can address precipitation in a number of ways if a water absorbing swale for each yard is combined with permeable concrete streets storm drains can be omitted from the neighbourhood this can save more than 800 per house 1970s by eliminating storm drains 12 one way to use the savings is to purchase larger lots which permits more amenities at the same cost permeable concrete is an established product in warm climates and in development for freezing climates in freezing climates the elimination of storm drains can often still pay for enough land to construct swales shallow water collecting ditches or water impeding berms instead this plan provides more land for homeowners and can offer more interesting topography for landscaping additionally a green roof captures precipitation and uses the water to grow plants it can be built into a new building or used to replace an existing roof electricity edit wind turbine on the roof in manchester uk a pv solar system further information zero emissions and zero energy building since electricity is an expensive utility the first step towards autonomy is to design a house and lifestyle to reduce demand led lights laptop computers and gas powered refrigerators save electricity although gas powered refrigerators are not very efficient 13 there are also superefficient electric refrigerators such as those produced by the sun frost company some of which use only about half as much electricity as a mass market energy star rated refrigerator using a solar roof solar cells can provide electric power solar roofs can be more cost effective than retrofitted solar power because buildings need roofs anyway modern solar cells last about 40 years which makes them a reasonable investment in some areas at a sufficient angle solar cells are cleaned by run off rain water and therefore have almost no life style impact many areas have long winter nights or dark cloudy days in these climates a solar installation might not pay for itself or large battery storage systems are necessary to achieve electric self sufficiency 14 in stormy or windy climates wind turbines can replace or significantly supplement solar power 15 the average autonomous house needs only one small wind turbine 5 metres or less in diameter on a 30 metre 100 foot tower this turbine can provide enough power to supplement solar power on cloudy days commercially available wind turbines use sealed one moving part ac generators and passive self feathering blades for years of operation without service the main advantage of wind power is that larger wind turbines have a lower per watt cost than solar cells provided there is wind turbine location is critical just as some locations lack sun for solar cells many areas lack enough wind to make a turbine pay for itself in the great plains of the united states a 10 metre 33 foot turbine can supply enough energy to heat and cool a well built all electric house economic use in other areas requires research and possibly a site survey 16 some sites have access to a stream with a change in elevation these sites can use small hydropower systems to generate electricity if the difference in elevation is above 30 metres 100 feet and the stream runs in all seasons this can provide continuous power with a small inexpensive installation lower changes of elevation require larger installations or dams and can be less efficient clogging at the turbine intake can be a practical problem the usual solution is a small pool and waterfall a penstock to carry away floating debris another solution is to utilize a turbine that resists debris such as a gorlov helical turbine or ossberger turbine during times of low demand excess power can be stored in batteries for future use however batteries need to be replaced every few years in many areas battery expenses can be eliminated by attaching the building to the electric power grid and operating the power system with net metering utility permission is required but such cooperative generation is legally mandated in some areas for example california 16 a grid based building is less autonomous but more economical and sustainable with fewer lifestyle sacrifices in rural areas the grid s cost and impacts can be reduced by using single wire earth return systems for example the malt system in areas that lack access to the grid battery size can be reduced with a generator to recharge the batteries during energy droughts such as extended fogs auxiliary generators are usually run from propane natural gas or sometimes diesel an hour of charging usually provides a day of operation modern residential chargers permit the user to set the charging times so the generator is quiet at night some generators automatically test themselves once per week 17 18 recent advances in passively stable magnetic bearings may someday permit inexpensive storage of power in a flywheel in a vacuum research groups like canada s ballard power systems are also working to develop a regenerative fuel cell a device that can generate hydrogen and oxygen when power is available and combine these efficiently when power is needed earth batteries tap electric currents in the earth called telluric current they can be installed anywhere in the ground they provide only low voltages and current they were used to power telegraphs in the 19th century as appliance efficiencies increase they may become practical microbial fuel cells and thermoelectric generators 19 20 allow electricity to be generated from biomass the plant can be dried chopped and converted or burned as a whole or it can be left alive so that waste saps from the plant can be converted by bacteria heating edit schematic of an active solar heating system most autonomous buildings are designed to use insulation thermal mass and passive solar heating and cooling examples of these are trombe walls and other technologies as skylights passive solar heating can heat most buildings in even the mild and chilly climates in colder climates extra construction costs can be as little as 15 more than new conventional buildings in warm climates those having less than two weeks of frosty nights per year there is no cost impact the basic requirement for passive solar heating is that the solar collectors must face the prevailing sunlight south in the northern hemisphere north in the southern hemisphere and the building must incorporate thermal mass to keep it warm in the night a recent somewhat experimental solar heating system annualized geo solar heating is practical even in regions that get little or no sunlight in winter 21 it uses the ground beneath a building for thermal mass precipitation can carry away the heat so the ground is shielded with 6 m skirts of plastic insulation the thermal mass of this system is sufficiently inexpensive and large that it can store enough summer heat to warm a building for the whole winter and enough winter cold to cool the building in summer in annualized geo solar systems the solar collector is often separate from and hotter or colder than the living space the building may actually be constructed from insulation for example straw bale construction some buildings have been aerodynamically designed so that convection via ducts and interior spaces eliminates any need for electric fans a more modest daily solar design is practical for example for about a 15 premium in building costs the passivhaus building codes in europe use high performance insulating windows r 30 insulation hrv ventilation and a small thermal mass with modest changes in the building s position modern krypton or argon insulated windows permit normal looking windows to provide passive solar heat without compromising insulation or structural strength if a small heater is available for the coldest nights a slab or basement cistern can inexpensively provide the required thermal mass passivhaus building codes in particular bring unusually good interior air quality because the buildings change the air several times per hour passing it through a heat exchanger to keep heat inside in all systems a small supplementary heater increases personal security and reduces lifestyle impacts for a small reduction of autonomy the two most popular heaters for ultra high efficiency houses are a small heat pump which also provides air conditioning or a central hydronic radiator air heater with water recirculating from the water heater passivhaus designs usually integrate the heater with the ventilation system earth sheltering and windbreaks can also reduce the absolute amount of heat needed by a building several feet below the earth temperature ranges from 4 c 39 f in north dakota to 26 c 79 f 21 in southern florida wind breaks reduce the amount of heat carried away from a building rounded a...