composting-toilet / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

There seems to be a design trend of trying to out-cool the previously coolest tiny house, and as long as that keeps happening we will keep having great stories and photos to share. Today's winner is the Fun Box, available for a luxurious weekend rental as of the summer of 2013. Made by Le Vertendre, the Fun Box is a 36...

While Ecohome is a firm advocate of decarbonizing homes by the adoption of electricity as the primary power source, we understand that for some of you, using gas may be the only option that fits your situation or location. We have written this guide to help you differentiate between renewable natural gas, fossil gas, a...

Recent articles have praised major public investments in biomethanization plants around Canada and North America. These huge chemical plants produce renewable natural gas (RNG) which is a pipeline-quality gas that is fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas and so can also be used in natural gas vehicles. RN...

Why fix a leaky toilet flapper? Another of the jobs that sat on my Honey-Do-List for quite a while longer than I care to admit has been to fix the leaking toilet flapper in the bathroom at the cabin - made worse by us being off grid and only having a relatively small amount of water available in our outside rainwater c...

Curbside pickup of garbage, compost and recycling: To facilitate recycling and waste management, first determine just what services are available in your municipality so you can sort your waste properly. Not all collection and disposal services are the same in all regions - recycling, compost collection, toxic waste de...

Toilets usually account for about a third of the indoor water use in a home, so toilets that carry the EPA WaterSense® label are a great place to start looking. Then comes the choice of either single flush or dual flush- it's a bit of a toss up but in the end we chose to go with single flush models, because when human ...

Home water consumption in Canada: On average, Canadians use over 300 litres of water per person, per day. Compare this to consumption in the UK of 200 litres per day, and 150 litres per person per day in France. Hopefully, as we see the beginnings of water shortages hit closer to home, this serious issue will garnish m...

The Eco Bath concept is simple: use the waste water from the sink to flush the adjoining toilet. The execution is nothing less than stylish. Though compact, the Eco Bath’s water tank is comprised of two compartments, one that holds drainage water from the adjoining sink and one that contains fresh water in case the nee...

Should we consider adding a bidet? Although quite popular in Africa, Asia and Europe, the bidet has been slow to gain popularity in America.  Could it be that we are just creatures of habit? Does the idea of a jet of water blasting your nether regions seem a hard leap to make at first? Well, you’re probably not the on...

We have finished the bathroom counter, floors and shower stalls with a dark slate tile from Glendyne. Slate is a natural stone, so its surfaces have more character and inconsistencies in texture - and at times in thickness - than manufactured tiles. This can mean a bit more effort on the part of installers, but a more ...

The Telsa solar roof tiles are in the news again. They now have solar panel shingle installations going in 8 states so far - with what's becoming competitive pricing. If news of these PV roof shingles is also news to you, check out our Tesla solar roof review from when it was first announced in 2016. What was missing b...