by William | Feb 10, 2021 | Net Zero
Dear Readers,
This blog, specifically, is my lengthy jot of notes. The facts, my scribbles, my questions, and some grand ideas…all given freely, from me, to you. You are welcome.
These notes are not totally random rubbish, however. They derive from my day of reading some wonderful advice given by the International Living Future Institute on how to obtain permits for some unconventional water ideas. Given that William and I are going to rely solely on rainwater harvesting for all of our potable and non-potable water needs, use a composting toilet to minimize our water usage and treat our human waste on-site, and that we intend to use our greywater through the Hydraloop (to flush the foam-flush toilets and wash our clothes) and then consequently irrigate our plants…there are probably a few things that we need to have some experts look over.
by William | Jun 17, 2020 | Net Zero, Small Footprint, Uncategorized
Dear Readers,
The Clivus Multrum composting toilet is kinda cool in that its name gives the bases of how it works in two words. ‘Clivus’ is Latin for ‘incline,’ and ‘multrum’ is Swedish for ‘compost room.’ And, in essence, the Clivus Multrum composting toilet is a toilet (basically a hole) that lets waste fall into an inclined composting room. Bam. Boom. Blog is basically done.
Ha! Kidding. To give justice to the simplistic yet holistically functional toilet system, it deserves a slightly more in-depth explanation. I promise, this will be simpler than the blog about wastewater treatment facilities…
Their toilets are much more sophisticated looking than a dark, deep hole you squat or stand over. They actually look like a real toilet! Some even use a small amount of foamy, soapy water (no more than 6 ounces) to clean the bowl when you use the flush mechanism…it’s like you would never know that you just sat on top of, and contributed to, compost.
When you donate your waste as tribute to earth fertilizer, it falls down into that inclined chamber. This incline is super important: it is what keeps the urine and the poop from being one, large, smelly, conglomeration. Gravity forces the urine to filtrate downward through the solid wastes, allowing the solid waste to remain dry (and unsmelly). However, when the urine gets to the bottom of the chamber…it is no longer urine…like a butterfly, the caterpillar has gone through metamorphosis!
Wanna know the secret to changing your urine to something else (maybe not necessarily as pretty as a butterfly…)? I sure did…
