Water self-sufficient house

Engineer Marco Cremona was recently presented with an award by the International Energy Globe Jury for his 'Water self-sufficient house' in Mosta.

Through a combination of traditional rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling and a number of water conservation measures, Cremona's household has been completely self-sufficient in water use for the past five years - no mean feat considering Malta only gets 550 mm of rainfall a year.

This is not the first award this Mosta eco-house has won. Last June it was awarded the France 5 TV Report Terre award for best environmental project in Europe.

The World Energy Globe Award for Sustainability, launched in 1999, is a prestigious environmental prize. Each year some 800 projects and initiatives from all over the world are submitted.

The Energy Globe is awarded annually in a huge television gala broadcast worldwide to some three billion households.

Cremona, who recently hit the headlines when he was among those who successfully climbed Everest, was invited to receive the Energy Globe country certificate at the Energy Globe ceremony on June 3 in Kigali, Rwanda. However, he decided to return to Malta on June 4 with his Challenge 8000 colleagues after their successful Everest ascent.

"I would have liked to receive the award in Rwanda but I knew our team's return to Malta after Everest was an occasion that couldn't be missed," Cremona said.

Last year, he also won the national award with his innovative Hoter project, which converts sewage from hotels into safe potable water.

The project went on to become one of three finalists in the CNBC/ Allianz 2009 Good Entrepreneur Competition, and narrowly missed out on the €250,000 prize.