1595 zHome

I don't often read the enclosures I get with my utility bills. I glance over them quickly to make sure when I'm paying my bill I'm not signing my life away with new terms or something and then toss them in the recycling. The enclosed handbills or circulars are so much extra tree killing for all I'm concerned.
Then again, I suppose by being one of the last holdouts to pay my bills with checks and stamps I helped kill the trees. On the other hand, with fewer enclosures actually produced, the printing businesses are hurting because of it.
Green can be so hard.
But in my PSE bill recently I saw their little newsletter and one of the articles actually caught my eye. Primarily because there was an odd picture of homes with blue roofs. The headline said, "Tour zHomes in Issaquah."
"zHome," my mind says, "Not iHome or eHome? What gives?"
Turns out the Z in zHomes stands for zero, as in zero emissions. And the blue roofs in the picture were blue because they were covered with solar power collectors.
Here I thought they were French. "Zee homes are zo nice..."
The zHomes in Issaquah produce as much energy as they consume and use 70% less water. Power comes from the roof and so, sort of, does the water. The “70% less” comes from using collected rainwater to fill and flush down toilets.
Finally, a smart idea to reduce toilet waste. No word whether weather affects regularity. Or weather acid rain can corrode your pipes. But it's a good step and I'm totally behind it.
By the way. The newsletter was "printed with soy ink on recycled paper." So they didn't originally kill the trees to tell me about it.
America, ya gotta love it.