[Racerbvd]

Interesting Home Comparisons - never on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, et
> al
>
> HOUSE # 1:
>
> A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add
> on
> a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas.
> In
> ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average
> American
> household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and
> natural
> gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time
> we
> checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times
> the
> national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern
> or
> Midwestern "snow belt," either. It's in the South.
>
> HOUSE # 2:
>
> Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university,
> this
> house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can
> provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is
> nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet
> in
> the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes
> sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats
> the
> house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels
> such
> as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required
> for a
> conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is
> collected
> and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from
> showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and
> then
> into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land
> surrounding
> the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into
> the
> surrounding rural landscape.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> HOUSE #1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,
> Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and
> filmmaker)
> Al Gore.
>
> HOUSE #2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas.
> Also
> known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the
> President of the United States, George W. Bush.
>