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look like a modern home in the midst of a working-class suburb. The
first hint of something unusual will be the wind turbine on the roof
and the absence of lawn. The most important innovations will be almost
invisible.


Underneath his house, and designed to be part of the foundation, will
be a 40,000-litre rainwater storage tank which will supply all of the
water needs for Mr Hockings, his partner and 13-year-old son. The
house will not be connected to the mains water supply.


Mr Hockings, a professional builder and environmental consultant to
the Master Builders Association, is installing water-free composting
toilets, which will save tens of thousands of litres every year. Grey
water from washing machines, showers and other household uses will be
diverted to a series of natural sand filters and ponds and then reused
on a small orchard.


"Instead of treating it as a waste, we treat it as a resource and
apply the water and nutrients to avocados, mangoes, macadamias,
custard apples figs and citrus," he said.


After good design, the biggest savings come from installing devices
like water-efficient shower roses and appliances like front-loading
washing machines. By keeping lawns to an absolute minimum, and by
planting hardy, drought-resistant native grasses, further water
savings can be made. His landscaping includes well-mulched native
trees and ground covers as well as permeable paving.


"The simplest thing people can do is make their houses smaller and
built to last longer. We are building this house to last for at least
100 years if not 200, achieving maximum use from minimum resources,"
Mr Hockings said.


The new house is on a 300-square-metre block and is adjacent to their
1920s home.


"This will be a three-bedroom home with a garage, and it's less than
150 square metres. The $20,000 or $30,000 being spent on novel
environmental construction is roughly equivalent to reducing 20 or 30
square metres of floor area, and we'll never have water or energy
bills," he said. Mr Hocking plans to generate power from a wind
turbine, solar panels and a small biodiesel generator.


Saving water also saves energy. "Our on-site water supply and
waste-water treatment systems use far less energy than the utilities
would use to pump water and waste through kilometres of piping."


An architect and senior research consultant at the Institute for
Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, Caitlin
McGee, said the Hockings's progress was "as far towards sustainable as
anybody's gone in a house".


...ENDS


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