In this day and age of environmental awareness I find it difficult to swallow the Vicrtorian governments conviction that large scale desalination plants are the best solution to our water crisis.  Converting salt water to fresh water by means of a desalination plant plant is a highly inefficient way of creating fresh water.

High energy use and consequent high greenhouse gas emissions are the major issue with desalination that need to be addressed. A plant similar to Perth's, even with energy recovery capability, will consume about 24 megawatts of electricity to produce about 45 gigalitres of water per year. This represents about 185,000 megawatt hours of energy per year. - Desalination Report

According to an Environment Victoria report, rainwater tanks are five times more energy efficient than desalination plants, and if fitted to all suitable houses in Melbourne could save up to 84 billion liters of water a year.

Professor Pat Troy's book titles "Troubled Waters", writes that mandatory rainwater tanks, greywater recycling and drycomposting toilets in all new homes would cut potable water use in those homes by 70%.

Personally I agree with making water tanks mandatory in all new homes in Melbourne and Victoria and hope that the Victorian governement decides to put these measures in place before buidling a desalination plant.

We recently launched Australia's fist Rain Water Tanks Directory website.  The Water Tanks Directory currently list water tank suppliers in most major Australian capital cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. If you're looking to install a rain water tank in your home, check out the water tank directory for your nearest rain water tank supplier.

It's good to see an Australian wesbsite hosting services catching on to green website hosting. Digital pacific is offering green website hosting in Australia (aff).

Everything that Digital Pacific uses in the operations of our business, including servers, routers and air conditioners are eco powered so not only are you hosting your website on state of the art hardware you are also showing your commitment to a more sustainable world.

The purchase of Digital Pacific hosting services will be equivalent to planting several acres of trees or removing several cars from the road. We have calculated our carbon footprint (emissions) which represent the impact of everything that Digital Pacific uses in the operations of our business, including the hosting servers, routers and air conditioners. In order to neutralise these emissions we have purchased carbon credits to offset emissions.

Digital Pacific's has two data centers, one here in Australia, the other in the states.  All orders are automatically  hosted at the Australian data center unless otherwise requested.  Hosting plans start from just $4.90 per month.

If you're interested in greening your website (aff), checkout Digital Pacific.

Here's a "smack your head it's so simple" idea for reducing your water use at home. It's as simple as this:

Turn down your water meter tap.

Yep, that's it.  Reducing your mains water pressure by turning it down at the meter will reduce the flow of water to all your taps and water outlets in the home.  Your family will be forced to use less water as the flow rate will be reduced.

Try it for a month or three and see what it does for your water usage and water utility bills.

It's true. Having plants – which you would think would use up a lot of water – can actually help you to conserve more water. If you have a huge expanse of yard it has to be watered a lot. All of that grass needs to stay green, and if it doesn't get enough water, it'll die. If you've paid a lot of money for that green lawn you of course want to keep it lush and alive, and if you care about nature and the planet, you don’t want to see living things dying for lack of water – but yet you want to conserve water, so what do you do? You landscape naturally, using grasses and plants that are native to your location.

By doing that, you avoid huge expanses of green lawn and instead have dirt or rocks and natural plants here and there to make a pleasing design. Keeping it trimmed and cared for helps make it look great and you won't be using much water. If you have a lot of plants you might need to irrigate them, especially when they're just getting started.

For the most part, though, you can just leave the natural plants to fend for themselves. They're used to growing in that climate with the water that they would normally get, so there's no need for a system to give them water every day. You'll have a beautiful, naturally-landscaped yard and the environment will thank you.

Looking to save money on energy bills and save the environment at the same time?  Or perhaps you're just wanting to be a little more self sufficient.  This Homemade Wind Generator Guide will tell you how to build a wind turbine at home for as little as $100 in around 2 weeks.

This 100+ page guide includes instructions on how to build 1000 and 3000 watt wind turbine models and will also show you how to construct a tower and hook the generator up to a battery grid.

Building a wind generator at home has never been as easy or as cheap and cost effective.  Most parts can now be purchased locally and assembled to produce your own self sufficient wind generator.

Save money on electricity by creating you own self sufficient sustainable wind and solar generation unit.

This guide includes:

• easy to follow plans
• plans for 1000 and 300 watt wind generators
• price list that comes in at UNDER $100 for materials
• built with readily available materials
• easy to build and assemble

The Homemade Wind Generator Guide will step you through the process of building your own home made wind turbine to help you live off the grid and be self sufficient.

If you're not happy with the guide, there is a 100% 8 week, no questions asked money back guarantee.

Not only does this guide give you instruction on building a wind electricity generator it, for a limited time it also comes bundled with 4 other guides to help you live off the grid:

• Making Bio Diesel Fuel
• Building Solar Panel Arrays
• Renewable Energy Solutions Guide
• Build your own Home.

ORDER ALL 5 GUIDES FOR $47.97

Make Bio Diesel Fuel

If you want to get off the grid quickly then one of the best ways is to buy a generator and make your own bio diesel. By using a generator and powering it with biodiesel you can generate the electricity needed to power your home for nect to nothing, freeing up money to use to build up your renewable energy system.

This guide will show you how produce bio fuel to use in your generator or even in your vehicle.

Build a Solar Panel Array

Choosing the right solar panels for your off the grid home can be a tricky affair with so many products on the market. There are so many different shaps and sizes of solar panel that figuring out which ones to buy has become much more difficult than it should. Installing a solar panel array can be an even bigger headache without a guide to help you. This solar panel instillation guide will walk you through the process of installing your own solar panel array.

Renewable Energy Solutions Guide

Learn from a families 15 years experience living off the grid. This guide will teach you how to use renewable energy to assist in living off the grid and in your day to day life. This is the ultimate start from scratch and learn what you need to know guide for learning about renewable energy.

Build your own home

Want to build your own home but have no idea where to start? This “Build Your own Home” guide will take you from beginner to “DIY Home Builder” in easy to follow steps. The Build Your Own Home guide book is fully illustrated to show you what you need to know and how to do it in step by step.

This guid will show you how to hire an ‘expert builder’ for free - it is his job to make sure you build your house properly.

ORDER ALL 5 GUIDES FOR $47.97

Savewater.com.au is currently running 3 surveys which ask questions about your knowledge of water use, water saving habits and your views on the proposed Victorian desalination plant. Filling in the surveys will put you in the running to win one of a range of water saving products including:

• BlueScope Water WATERPOINT rainwater tank package (valued at $3,260)
• Quantum Solar Heatpump (valued at $3,500)
• New Water Rain Reviva rainwater storage system (valued at $2,645)
• Waterwise Systems Greywater Gardener 230 DIY Kit (valued at $2, 987)
• Asko Washing Machine Model W6222 (valued at $1,799)
• Downpour 2,100 litre MiniOrb Poly Tank (valued at $1,675)
• Davey Rainbank System including KRB50 pump (valued at $1,040)
• Whirlpool WFS1072AW 7.5 kg Front Load Washer (valued at $949)
• Dux ReadyHot (Retrofit) Standard Size system ringmain (valued at $999)
• Just Water Solutions Grey Water Gator (valued at $495)

To be in the running all you need to do is fill in the Save Water surveys available on the savewater website.

According to discount pool covers, swimming pools loose around 40 thousand to 50 thousand litres of water per year through evaporation.� That equates to approximately the same amount of water 4 people would use showering per year (yep, I did the math based on 30 litres of water per person per shower per day .... perhaps).� That's a truck load of water.

So, if you own a pool, do our water reserves a� favor, put a cover on it!

How do you test for water leaks in your home?� Simple.� Before you go to bed, turn off all your taps and water using appliances and write down your water meter reading.� Then when you wake up the next morning take another reading and see if the meter has moved.� Just make sure the family doesn't flush if they use the loo during the night!

Thanks to Roger from Central Highlands Water for the tip.

The Australian and New Zealand Sustainable House Day (SHD) is being held this coming weekend, Sunday 9th September. SHD aims to educate home owner and builders on how they can create more sustainable homes by employing water saving and energy saving technologies.

On Sunday you will be able to take a tour of a sustainable home near you for the princely sum of $5 ($10 for families). So if you're building a new home, or you'd like to green you current abode, check out the Sustainable Homes website for venue detail.