KEY POINTS:
It might pollute the airwaves, but it's not polluting the environment.
Big Brother returned to Australian television screens this year having undergone a green makeover.
The seventh series of Big Brother on Network Ten in April this year aimed to reflect growing "green"awareness by putting contestants in an environmentally-friendly house.
Housemates sunned themselves by a pool filled and topped up with rain water, and sat on chairs and decking made from recycled materials.
Big Brother's executive producer Tim Toni said green issues such as global warming and carbon emissions are a hot topic around the world.
"Big Brother is a reflection of society so like many households around Australia this year we are going green," he said in April.
Tone Wheeler, the architect and educator who acted as a consultant to Big Brother during its re-design earlier this year, said all measures taken were things anyone could do in their own homes.
"If you wanted to do this 25 years ago it would have been tough, but now the resources are so available anyone can make their environmental footprint smaller," he said.
In the house, solar panels put power back into the grid and significant moves were been made to reduce water usage.
An air to water purifier which literally plucks water from thin air was fitted for drinking and cleaning use.
The large roof space of the Friday night games pavilion was utilised to capture enough water to sustain the house throughout about 100 days of use.
Wheeler said the Big Brother house could be a leader in showing Australians how easy it is to make a house green.
"One of the things is education, such as opening the house up when it's cooler outside to cut down on air conditioning costs, which have a major impact on the environment," he said.
- AAP
