SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) — Buildings in America consume nearly 40% of our energy each year along with emitting tons greenhouse gases and other forms of waste. Some people have looked to making buildings self-sustainable such as placing solar panels on the sides of the buildings, but this can be expensive and doesn’t always provide the amount of energy as planned. A group of Thai architects have submitted an idea at Evolo for a very interesting barnacle like apartment that would live off the waste of the rest of the building.
The apartment attachment literally runs on recycled everything. It creates electricity through the use of photovoltaics and the plants absorb the nutrients from the waste water along with filtering them. If for some reason there isn’t enough waste water at hand, the apartment also makes use by collecting rain water. The plants not only purify your water, but also help get rid of some of the greenhouse gases emitted by the building itself.
Although the apartment is more likely a vision than a reality given the small amount of plants that have to filter the large amount of waste water, it could eventually turn into a reality given the rise of urban growth and popularity of renewable energy. If you had a couple of these on a big building, it could definitely help reduce the waste of a big city and help keep our urban environments clean not to mention they have a pretty cool design.—http://www.shafaqna.com/english
