Rebecca Brayton: We all try to follow the three Rs of sustainable living: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. But how many of us follow these rules when building our homes? Hi! I am Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today we'll be taking a tour of one of the most ecologically friendly homes in North America.
Emmanuel Cosgrove: People are often asking me what's an eco-kitchen. Here we have a kitchen that's got a lot of classic materials that won't go out of style within 10 years, like solid cherry doors, solid wood countertops, durable stainless countertops, we've got the triple chamber trash bin for compostables, recycling, and garbage. We have got a lot of reclaimed materials once again like the countertops and quite a few of those glass doors.
So this here is a lightwell that brings light from the roof, a couple of storeys up that manages to light this whole bathroom. The bath is all of these reclaimed, but at our feet we've got slate tiles, they are actually old blackboards from demolished school.
Actually under that drain is a coil that recovers the heat from the hot water going down the drain and transfers it to the cold water coming in the shower while you are taking a shower, so it allows you to take a shower without using very much fresh hot water. The heat loops itself as you are taking your shower.
In the corner here we have a dual flush toilet that allows you to give it a half flush. It's actually water that used to be in that bathtub a few days ago. So it's just -- all these little water saving and energy saving techniques that can go a long way.
Troy McGarrigle: All the waters in the house that is used, they don't go into city sewer, they come down here into this tank. From there to there, they get filtered. There is another filtration there, and then we get an underground storage reservoir here, so then upstairs, if you flush the toilet, and so that the water comes from the city, it comes from here. I think, in the first two year, you'll save 80,000 liters of water.
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