It rained here all day yesterday. Which had us thinking about all of that water we would love to be collecting for our small home. That's when we found the Rainwater HOG. Granted, it probably isn't going into your 450sf apartment anytime soon - but still - the Rainwater HOG is worth noting for small homes given its space-saving design and multi-purpose function:
Designed by Australian architect Sally Dominguez, Rainwater HOG is a modular system that's made specifically to take up as little of a footprint as possible. Each module has a 51-gallon capacity, a footprint of only 1.3 square feet and a height of 6 feet. Its rectilinear form and dark green color mean it can be placed against walls or fences without sticking out like a sore thumb.
Plus, like any smart design for small spaces, the HOG has a dual purpose. When installed inside a home, the water-filled vessel can also act as a thermal mass, thus lowering heating and cooling energy use (and costs) in the home. Given such thoughtful design, it's no wonder the Rainwater HOG was on BuildingGreen's best green building products of 2008.
Each tank retails for about $300. TierraPath.com sells a kit to get you started.
Find out more at Rainwater HOG.
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Comments (12)
Too bad it's so expensive. You can make a good rain barrel for less than 1/4 of that.
I LOVE the idea of being able to store rainwater between deck joists. That's a great use of space. Jeffrey makes a great point - the price is the only drawback to this product.
in california -- given our near-rain-less summers -- you'd need hundreds of these to satisfy your irrigation needs. i wish we could make it work.
I just got a retrofitted pepsi barrel for $30 thanks to a local water harvesting association. Now if it would just rain.
Why do they have to design these to look so utilitarian?
in california MAYBE they should plant more draught resistant vegetation, rather than fight nature and have lush green grass - only England can have grass that green :-)
How does the hog collect water - is it hooked to the rain gutter off the roof?? I think it is cool.
Some calculations on how many barrels you would need here:
http://verdancedesign.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-raining-now-what.html
At $300 a piece you would need to spend a LOT of money to replace a large percentage of your watering requirements.
I echo the concern about expense: I love that these have such a slim profile, but could never justify spending anything close to $300 for just-under 50 gallons of storage.
Not pretty, but I have stopped and looked at these a few times:
http://www.homedepot.com/Featured-Products-Composters-and-Rain-Barrels-Rain-Barrels/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZbe8p/R-100663335/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
A third of the price!
sucks that some folk pay this amount to be green. but i like the look, actually!
A Tucson rainwater guru, Brad Lancaster, has a great website with lots of calculations and resources. http://www.harvestingrainwater.com I have a 150 gallon harvester with a small footprint, 3x3 at the base and about 7 foot tall, made from a recycled steel culvert. It ties into gutters I hung on the back of the house. Because I have only planted native and food plants, it does the job just fine.
When I was trying to decide which rain barrel to buy, I found that the Aquabarrel web site had lots of great information on how to choose a rain barrel. Aquabarrel sells the Rainwater Hogs and many other kinds of rain barrels, as well as downspout diverters and filters. They also sell a drip hose that works great with rain barrels.
You could probably modify this Achla RB03 rain barrel to act in much the same way, at a fraction of the cost.