‘Zenesis House’ uses rainwater and solar energy.
By Sreekanth A Nair
An Indian American man from Paramus, New Jersey, with the help of his son, has invented a snow-melt system that helps melt snow an inch and half per hour.
The geothermal snow melt system developed by the family uses the powers of nature itself to fight the snow. Raj Parikh developed the system with the help of his son Asit Parikh.
“What we are doing is using the environment to battle the environment,” Asit Parikh was quoted as saying by Daily Voice.
They call the system “Zenesis House.”
They capture rainwater throughout the year and the water is heated to 105 degrees using a solar thermal system. This water is stored in multiple insulated tanks and then it is distributed continuously to driveways and walkways through a network of heating pipes.
The water from melted snow is redirected to the system then recycled, reheated and the family uses it for washing, irrigation and toilet use.
The excess electricity produced by the solar system is used to heat and pump the hot water to melt snow, the report said.
“We wanted to draw a line in the sand against climate change and not have a house that used gas or oil,” Asit told Daily Voice. “Nobody is going to question our heating system when it melts away blizzards. We are creating a green building people want to live in,” he added.
Asit is a Passive House designer and NYC Real Estate broker. His father Raj was an engineer and chairman of the engineering & architecture firm Metropolitan Building Consulting Group.
Expressing happiness over the success of the system Asit wrote on Facebook: “By capturing the sun’s warmth during the day, and by utilizing 2 ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps and our proprietary heat exchange system, our snowmelt system keeps the driveway shoveled- even on blizzard day.
“Bonus: we capture the water for use in gray water applications. Real-life proof of concept that using nature to battle nature is the way to do it. It may not keep up above 1 inch/hour, but it will work longer than the snow falls. Stay safe and warm!” he added.