Recycled Plastic Rain Water Tanks

Taking environmentally friendly to a new level, the VersiTank rainwater tank from Elmich is made from recycled plastics and manufactured in Australia.  The VersiTank storm water tanks store run-off from roofs and are suitable for domestic rainwater storage and commercial developments.

Lightweight, high strength interlocking panels clip together to make up the water tank assembly, assembled on site.

You can find out more at the Elmich VersiTank product page.

Labor Pledges Rainwater Tanks & Grey Water System Rebates

An article in The Boarder Mail reports:

LABOR leader Kevin Rudd wants to put a rainwater tank in every home and has pledged $250 million to get things started.

Mr Rudd yesterday said a federal Labor government would tackle the water crisis by offering up to $500 each to 500,000 homes to help install tanks or grey water piping.

“We want every Australian home and its roof to be a personal water catchment area, maximising reuse and collection of rain water,” he said.

Combined this with State government rebates, this may tip a few people over the edge and get them installing rainwater tanks and greywater systems.

Top 5 Green Website Hosting Services

I’ve recently been researching website hosting services which profess to be green or in other words, buy their power from renewable energy companies or companies who offset their carbon emissions. This blog is not currently hosted with a carbon neutral web hosting service, so it’s about time I put my money where my mouth is and practice what I’ve started preaching. So let me share with you my findings.

One of my current providers offers a pretty unbeatable deal. I won’t list all the features but here’s a few that had me sold:

• 300gb triffic
• Unlimited domains
• 2500 email addresses
• All for around US$7 per month

Pretty hard to beat. So lets take a look at the green hosting solutions on offer.
It’s encouraging to see that there are a growing number of web hosting services who are turning green in an effort to service those of us with a social and environmental conscience. Here’s my list of top 10 green website hosting companies:

1. Dreamhost
Location: US
Energy Type: Renewable Energy Certificates (Solar, Hydro, Wind Etc)
Prices: from US$7.95 per month
Features include:

• Unlimited domains
• 148 GB traffic per month
• 3000 email accounts and a heap of other features.
• MySQL Databases (unlimited)
• 24 hour email technical support
• Up to 75 FTP users

2. Green Hosting
Location: Canada
Energy Type: Wind
Prices: from $39 per month
Features:

• 5 MB of server space (extra capacity is available at additional cost)
• unlimited data transfer (also called ‘unlimited bandwidth’ or ‘unlimited hits’)
• 5 POP3 vanity email accounts (more available at additional cost)
• unlimited email forwarding
• unlimited email aliases
• web statistics
• Windows or LINUX based hosting

3. Think Host
Location: US
Energy Type: Wind & Solar
Prices: from $5.95 per month
Features:

• 40 GB storage
• 200 GB bandwidth
• MySQL DB
• Multiple Domain capable
• 25 Email accounts
• Web mail client

4. Sustainable Websites
Location: US
Energy Type: Wind
Prices: From $10 per month
Features:

• 1 GB storage
• 10 GB bandwidth
• 25 POP email accounts
• MySQL DB
• 5 add on domains available
• Web Stats

5. ASIO
Location: US
Energy Type: Solar
Prices: from $9.95 per month
Features:

• 250 MB storage
• 5 GB bandwidth
• 250 email accounts
• Linux / Windows hosting
• Spam filtering
• 99.% uptime guarantee

If you’re going to be hosting multiple domains then Dreamhost seems to be the best value for money. The details above don’t really do them justice as they their green hosting accounts have a huge array of features.

Bribing the kids to save water and energy

A recent article in The Age outlines how one family has discovered a novel way to save water and electricity in the home, bribe the kids! If the electricity and water usage in GREEN challenge entrant Jill Forwards household decreases, the kids get a pocket money bonus. What a great way to make children more aware of their actions and help the environment.

Wouldn’t it be great if our electricity and water usage could be tracked automatically and electronically.  Households could join a nationwide competition to reduce water usage and electricity consumption.   Schools could compete against schools and businesses against businesses.  Surely this kind of competition would drive households and organisations to invest in green technology and products such as solar hot water, rainwater tanks, and Compact Fluorescent Globes.

Ban on watering lawn in Adelaide

South Australian State Government has issued new water restrictions on Adelaide household water use.  Beginning July 1 there will be a ban on watering household lawns with.
State Water Security Minister Karlene Maywald said the temporary “stringent restrictions” – applying during July and possibly longer – were a result of record low inflows into the River Murray due to the recent crippling drought.

“We are asking people to turn off their outside taps and let nature keep our gardens alive during July,” she said.

Source: Adelaide Now

Brisbane tank rebate rules changed

The Brisbane Times reports that the residents in Brisbane will have to ensure their rainwater tank is plumbed into their laundry and toilet to be eligible to receive the $850 water tank rebate.

“Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the change was needed because the rebate program would not conserve the city’s water supplies unless people started using rainwater inside their homes.”

Brisbane has been struggling to keep water consumption down to 140 L per person and although this change to the rebate rules may hurt the hip pocket, it will go a long way to helping Brisbane reach the consumption target.

Rain water tank materials

Rain water tanks come in all shapes and sizes and materials. So what material should your water tanks be made from?

This all depends on your budget and whether the tank is above or below ground. Currently Polyethylene tanks are the most cost effective, but you may wish to consider other materials.

Polyethylene rainwater tanks are light, durable, easy to transport and come in a wide range of colours. They can be used above or below ground, however they generally don’t last as long as a concrete tank.

Fibreglass water tanks tend to be more resistant to rust and chemical corrosion and generally best suited to above ground instillations.

Concrete rain water tanks are long lasting, durable and can be built above or below ground. Above ground, concrete has the advantage of keeping water cooler and reducing algal growth.

Metal rain water tanks, like polyethylene, are light, durable and easy to transport. Bluescope Steel offer a great rang of metal tanks.

You can buy a huge range of rainwater tanks through ebay.

How much does a rainwater tank cost?

How much should you expect to pay for a rainwater tank? The old adage regarding a piece of string comes to mind for the answer to this question. Here are four main factors which will contribute to the cost of your water tank:

• Water tank size
• Instillation requirements
• What material the water tank is made of
• Delivery

You can purchase a 1000 Litre tank for as little as $300, or for something smaller, Australian Waste Management sell wheelie bins, 120 Litres from $65. Now a days you can order rain water tanks in all shapes and sizes (and costs) but you can pick up a larger tank of 5,000 Litres for as little as $1500. Need something a little larger? A 100,000 Litre tank will cost you around $8000.

Add to this the cost of tank instillation and plumbing by a registered plumber which will vary depending on whether or not you’re going to use your tank water for the toilet and laundry. Typically, a small above ground tank will cost you around $300 to install plus the cost of a pump – starting at around $200.

Check out rainwater tanks for sale through ebay.

Run your car on water

Now I haven’t checked the validity of the manual at the end of the following link, so download at your own peril. This manual apparently shows you how to build a simplistic, and affordable hydrogen fuel system for your car. It will show you how to convert you existing vehicle to hydrogen fuel cell power without making any drastic changes to you vehicle mechanics.

So here it is, run your car on water, but do it efficiently eh!

Grey Water Guerrillas - Make your own greywater system

Here’s an interesting article on an underground greywater movement promoting the re-use of greywater from the shower and laundry.  The gray water guerrillas website is dedicated to promoting the re-use of water from your shower and laundry.  Check it our for some great pointers for setting up your own greywater system at home.