We are at the Ocean Builders Factory here in Panama with another update from Craig about the new EcoPod roof design. We have recently made a plug and three molds so that we can begin making the roof sections.

The roof will be made up of a ring of 28 of these sections that go around the edge. The inside of the ring will be a large disk that appears flat but will have a slight slope to capture rainwater. The disk will sit on the lip that you can see on the sections in the attached video.

This roof design will allow us to capture rainwater that we can use within the home for things like washing dishes. Harnessing rainwater is a great way to increase the efficiency of water usage in the home, especially in tropical climates where you get regular rain showers.

Since reducing the ecological footprint of the home is one of our main goals, capturing rainwater is a great way to bring the idea into practice. Since rainwater is already falling, and it’s free, it seems wasteful to not harness it and use it in the home. Since the rain is fresh water and doesn’t need to go through our reverse osmosis system, we can even save the electricity and time that would go towards filtering it.

We still have quite a bit of work to do on this design but we are taking the first steps and like always, experimenting along the way to see what will work and what won’t. Our fiberglass team has been working hard on these sections and we expect to make some really strong progress in the next month so be on the lookout for more updates soon.