New house - what green solution would you do?

[halfpenny]

You have to distinguish between grey water and rain water. Even the latter has problems in the house, as I know from pratical experience, though we do collect for garden use. What do you define as 'grey'?. Sink waste?, dishwasher waste?, washing machine waste? Would you use this on the garden?

[Jdsk]

Wikipedia: Greywater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater

In domestic settings the big gain comes from using it to flush toilets.

Jonathan

[Cyril Haearn]

Rinsing water could be gathered

[halfpenny]

Grey and rain water use is a popular armchair suggestion. Having tried, I would say it is very impractical for in-house use, because of the difficulties of adequately filtering organic matter, and dealing with residues from household chemicals. Rainwater for toilet cisterns reduced our water consumption by 70+%, but was too problematic from the smell and biological soup aspects - we abandoned after 5 years.

[kwackers]

Reducing water use in loos is easy - particularly if you have a lawn.

Move around though - the grass next to my workshop is so green and lush it's a dead giveaway.