I wonder about having a toilet with an exhaust fan in a tightly sealed house. Would make-up air need to be provided? Does your house smell like poop when the power goes out?
Bathroom of the future? Mine would be a large walk-in tub (due to injuries), a shower stall large enough to fit a wheel chair (or at least transfer from wheel chair to stool and back), a wall mounted toilet so that I could have a higher and more comfortable seat and not only an ERV fan, but also an auxiliary heater keep the bathroom warm for the baths or extended showers. It would also be nice to have space for a wheelchair plus.
As for the infrastructure, I think a grey water holding tank and blackwater septic tank are mandatory and should be coded into new homes.
But I guess my future vision is more closer-termed than others.
Backcountry Yosemite, there was a solar-powered compost pit toilet. Best-smelling outhouse I ever used. The small solar panel powered an exhaust or drying fan and (I think I recall) a mixing wand for aeration. A ranger came up with his mule while we were hanging around. (It actually smelled fine in the vicinity so we had no problem eating our lunch there, unlike every other pit toilet in a national park.) He came up once a week or so, emptied the powdery-dry stuff into two special panniers. Packed it back down to the ranger station, where it was composted for a long time, then used for ornamental landscaping. This was maybe 15 years ago. I’ve been fascinated ever since, and if we ever (finally!) build a house on some land, there will be a composting toilet system and full greywater re-use, so no septic. I love your divided bathroom plan above.
Municipal water should cost 10 times as much as it does, reflecting its true value. This would be great incentive to minimize water use which in turn would mean that water and waste distribution and treatment could be downsized enormously.
First thought on the composting toilet was how much garden space would I loose?
Second thought was the advantage of separating g urine, as urea powered microbial biocrete is of high interest, if we can source the urea.
Third thought was that the water companies might want to support this. Dwr Cymru is at no risk of running out of water, but to achieve net zero they want to significantly reduce energy spent on cleaning water and cleaning sewage. Volume reduction is an easy goal, which also helpful in reducing high capital work to increase system capacity with population growth
During the pandemic I found myself watching hours of YouTube videos from narrowboaters as they roamed the canal network of the UK. Among their live aboard conveniences were a range of toilet solutions from pump outs to composting showing a range of ways for removing the waste from the boat. Very interesting to hear their preferences on the available solutions in a relatively tiny space.
I wonder about having a toilet with an exhaust fan in a tightly sealed house. Would make-up air need to be provided? Does your house smell like poop when the power goes out?
Bathroom of the future? Mine would be a large walk-in tub (due to injuries), a shower stall large enough to fit a wheel chair (or at least transfer from wheel chair to stool and back), a wall mounted toilet so that I could have a higher and more comfortable seat and not only an ERV fan, but also an auxiliary heater keep the bathroom warm for the baths or extended showers. It would also be nice to have space for a wheelchair plus.
As for the infrastructure, I think a grey water holding tank and blackwater septic tank are mandatory and should be coded into new homes.
But I guess my future vision is more closer-termed than others.
Backcountry Yosemite, there was a solar-powered compost pit toilet. Best-smelling outhouse I ever used. The small solar panel powered an exhaust or drying fan and (I think I recall) a mixing wand for aeration. A ranger came up with his mule while we were hanging around. (It actually smelled fine in the vicinity so we had no problem eating our lunch there, unlike every other pit toilet in a national park.) He came up once a week or so, emptied the powdery-dry stuff into two special panniers. Packed it back down to the ranger station, where it was composted for a long time, then used for ornamental landscaping. This was maybe 15 years ago. I’ve been fascinated ever since, and if we ever (finally!) build a house on some land, there will be a composting toilet system and full greywater re-use, so no septic. I love your divided bathroom plan above.
Municipal water should cost 10 times as much as it does, reflecting its true value. This would be great incentive to minimize water use which in turn would mean that water and waste distribution and treatment could be downsized enormously.
First thought on the composting toilet was how much garden space would I loose?
Second thought was the advantage of separating g urine, as urea powered microbial biocrete is of high interest, if we can source the urea.
Third thought was that the water companies might want to support this. Dwr Cymru is at no risk of running out of water, but to achieve net zero they want to significantly reduce energy spent on cleaning water and cleaning sewage. Volume reduction is an easy goal, which also helpful in reducing high capital work to increase system capacity with population growth
During the pandemic I found myself watching hours of YouTube videos from narrowboaters as they roamed the canal network of the UK. Among their live aboard conveniences were a range of toilet solutions from pump outs to composting showing a range of ways for removing the waste from the boat. Very interesting to hear their preferences on the available solutions in a relatively tiny space.