Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Julia Stones, along with the many other jobs she has taken under her wing, has spent the last four months looking at improving the hygiene of the island’s facilities.

One of her concerns was that no hot water would mean that the dishes, pots and pans would be a lot harder to wash.

After some number crunching, comparing the cost of one possible solution versus another, I settled on a system whereby we run a cut-off from our fresh water supply through over 60 metres of dark blue garden hose pipe which is placed on the roof of the kitchen.

How does it work?
Dark colours attract and absorb more light (and therefore heat) than light ones. Running water through a length of dark-coloured pipe will therefore start to heat the water. The more pipe you have, the hotter the water will become, and the larger the volume of water that will be available.

TRIBAL CHALLENGE:

There are plenty of systems available to you at home to help harness the energy of the sun through solar thermal heating, ranging from the homemade to the high-tech. Why not invest in some for your own home, save the environment and cut your fuel bills in the process!
Searching for solar water or solar thermal water heating on the internet will uncover a wealth of advice and guidance on the subject.