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News Top Stories Ecoliving to the extreme
News Top Stories Ecoliving to the extreme
| Ecoliving to the extreme |
| Sunday, 13 July 2008 22:18 | |||
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No, the students, government employees, academics and workers of nongovernment organizations, among others, do not flock to the compound on weekdays to gawk at exotic animals or frolic in white sand beaches. Rather, they marvel at the ingenious ways by which the Archival family members built their life and home--worthy of an Architectural Digest spread--firmly around the 3Rs of recycling, reusing and reducing. Stand by the veranda leading to the main entrance and you will see aluminum soft drink cans that were filled with cement and fashioned into strong railings. Also at the veranda are used spools of large electrical wires that were varnished and turned into functional coffee tables. The main door, meanwhile, is made of strips of scrap wood that were hammered and stuck together--another product of recycling construction waste that homeowner Nestor Archival readily gets his hands on, being one of the country's leading contractors of electrical work with such clients as Cebu Holdings Inc. of the Ayala group. More examples of recycling genius abound in and out of the two-story, 400-square-meter house and 7,000-square-meter compound. Used aluminum doy packs were stitched together to become sturdy roof lining; plastic cups and Styrofoam packs were given new life as planters; empty cans of paint and milk were recycled into pots; empty, green wine bottles now line the border of plant boxes, while discarded metal and wood were twisted and treated to become the staircase and balustrade of the Archival ecohouse, touted to be the first in Cebu, if not the Philippines. Archival also applied his knowledge in engineering and design in making his home the poster house of energy efficiency. The 50-year-old electrical engineer told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) during a tour of his house that he made heavy use of passive heating and cooling techniques to lessen the need for electricity. This explains the installation of windows of different sizes and a skylight so that much of the illumination inside the house comes from the sun, instead of light bulbs that are becoming increasingly expensive to operate because of rising electricity costs. Cut-up PVC pipes were also incorporated into the design of the walls of the house to let air in when the weather is good. They are covered up at night or when the rains come. And since air moves freely throughout the house with a high ceiling, there is less need for electric fans, much less for air-conditioners. Archival proudly says that his electricity bill runs up to just about P1,500 a month even if he operates a full household with a staff of about eight working around the property. One major reason is the household's reliance on solar energy. The Archival ecohouse has seven solar panels that each produce 75 watts of electricity. One panel can power as much as four light bulbs and a television set. If there's not enough sun due to rainy weather, two wind turbines are on standby to produce back-up power. The combined electrical output of the solar panels is enough to cover the house's power needs, including the operation of water pumps leading to the small swimming pool filled with 30,000 liters of water, and the filtration of the pond teeming with tilapia and koi. The Archivals' water bill is also miniscule because they depend on another of nature's gifts--rain. Water catchments were installed on the house's roof to collect the rain, which is then used to flush the toilets in comfort rooms, wash clothes and plates, water the plants and fill the swimming pool and fish pond. Then the used water from the wash basins and toilets would be processed, along with Styrofoam and other materials, to produce the paving blocks that line the garden. Even human waste is put to good use as it is added to the waste produced by pigs and goats in the compound, which would be then processed by a P30,000 biogas facility into methane. The gas is used for cooking instead of expensive liquefied petroleum gas. The Archivals produce more than enough gas, such that plans are underway to connect pipes to neighbors so they could also use the excess methane for their cooking needs. A byproduct--biogas slurry--is used to fertilize flowering plants that abound in the Archival home, like santan, gumamela, yellow bells and birds of paradise. Archival proudly says that not a plastic bag of waste from his home ends up in a dump. In fact, he brings in about a ton of waste a day from Cebu City's Carbon market and Eden Fruit Corp. The biodegradable waste is sorted, peeled and cut into little pieces to feed the goats and pigs, or processed further in the 30 vermicomposting beds to produce organic fertilizer to fatten the Archivals' vegetables, like ampalaya, okra and alugbati. The non-biodegradable waste, on the other hand, would be turned into decorative and functional pieces in and around the house. The house's doors, cabinets and floors are all products of ingenious recycling. Archival told the Inquirer, however, that he did not originally build his home to be a showcase for environment-friendly living. The original plans were for a house, just like any other. But Archival went back to the drawing board when he realized over the course of his work as chair of Cebu City's committee on environment that he could contribute to making the world a better place. And the best place to start was his home. Thus, plans were revised and, by January 2005, work on the Archival ecohouse started. It was completed in December last year to the tune of P7 million. Since then, he has been inviting groups to his house to show that they, too, can live in harmony with the environment.
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