Interesting Home Comparisons - never on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, et

[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.
>

[TheMentat]

Whatever, George Bush has done nothing to protect us from ManBearPig!

[Racerbvd]

[john70t]

Though their policies which govern millions of other people are polar opposites, I'll man-up and say way to go George!
Lead by example.

[strupgolf]

That's very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by strupgolf
That's very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Agreed and I wish I had a house like the one in Crawford.

No matter how much I made in income, nor how much I was worth, I could not or would not have a house like that in example #1.

Just cannot waste energy like that, and remember that the owner in example #1 has several other houses to boot.

Wonder why CNN et al has not brought this up?

Joe

[pwd72s]

where, oh where, are the true believers in global warming on this one? nary a post do I see.

[Moneyguy1]

I am here. I believe in global warming. However, I do not believe that it is in any way 100% caused by humans, although I do think they are a factor.

Gotta love these energy homes nestled in the sunny Southwest!!

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
I am here. I believe in global warming. However, I do not believe that it is in any way 100% caused by humans, although I do think they are a factor.

Gotta love these energy homes nestled in the sunny Southwest!!

Bob,

Should I do very well in business and life I would build one like in Crawford in a heartbeat. Love solar, wind and other alternative energy systems and we need to embrace it more, but its not "normal" and many do not understand it.

This needs to change...

joe

[Tervuren]

The house my parents built twenty five years ago was fairly odd for its day. Several things my parents did when they built and designed it themselves I now see in modern houses.

But dad also tapped into the underground water for heating and cooling. Significantly less heating and cooling energy needed. It offers a medium very near what we leave it all year round.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Tervuren
The house my parents built twenty five years ago was fairly odd for its day. Several things my parents did when they built and designed it themselves I now see in modern houses.

But dad also tapped into the underground water for heating and cooling. Significantly less heating and cooling energy needed. It offers a medium very near what we leave it all year round.

Like you the house I grew up in until the age of 10 was solar heated, had radiant heat in floors and was far ahead of its time in most areas.

Remember it well and have thought many times of buying it back. The utility costs were 1/3rd of what other houses in the area were spending.

Got me interested in alternative energy at an early age.

[Nathans_Dad]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Gotta love these energy homes nestled in the sunny Southwest!!

I'm not sure what you mean by "sunny Southwest". To me that conjures up images of Arizona or New Mexico. Crawford is near Waco which is in Central Texas, not southern Texas. While the winters are certainly no where near those of the midwest or northern states, it is not "the sunny Southwest".

[cairns]

"Though their policies which govern millions of other people are polar opposites, I'll man-up and say way to go George!
Lead by example."

Good on you.

[NICKG]

what i don't understand is why they are not making the most viable alt energy source ...bio diesel. In the Northeast where i am, most people use oil to heat their houses, we are the most productive country in the world in terms of soy beans and other crops that are easily made to biodiesel.
If you think about it, Europe has been diesel for a long time. We can make our own fuels and really reduce out consuimption of foreign oil by going more towards bio diesel.

[Tobra]

Too many people with nice suits and smart lawyers oppose new technology. Prior to his move to DC, he lived in Austin, as I understand it, Mr Bush wanted to keep a home in Texas, the wacky booze jockey cokehead.

I remember when my parents put in solar to heat the water in the pool and the house. Back in the '80's they installed this heat pump setup which cools and heats the house pretty effectively. Recently, they remodeled and put in a whole house fan. It cools off quite a bit at night here, and last summer I tried out that fan while house sitting. Open the windows, turn on the fan and in 15-20 minutes the house(and more importantly the attic) were 65*. The fan draws air into the house and blows it into the attic, forcing the air in the attic out the roof vents. I would guess the temp in the attic dropped at least 80*, and the next day the air conditioner never came on with the thermostat set to 72(it was over 90 that day)

Lot of reasonable things you could actually do about reducing your energy consumption. My sister put solar panels on her barn. May get a diesel VW for my next vehicle, I will even go buy it out of state if need be

these GD Republicans are going to ruin the world...

[john70t]

Just for clarity: the citizen, the war president, and the environmental president are three different people (though for the sake of internet poo slinging I'll reserve the right to combind them).
You can't "plant a tree and save the world", but it's a good start. One person could count the recycled oil drops while his neighbor kicks over a 55gallon drum.

The need for efficient home and transportation energy use has been pushed by the hippys since the 60s, but necessity (unfortunately) will be the mother of invention and acceptance. GE and BP seem to be getting the picture.

[The Gaijin]

Originally posted by john70t
GE and BP seem to be getting the picture.

Good old GE is big into the wind farm racket. These things don't work and are propped up by your tax dollar$. I dont know what BP is up too. Plenty of slick commercials on TV - but still selling plenty of gas out of pumps..

[The Gaijin]

Originally posted by NICKG
what i don't understand is why they are not making the most viable alt energy source ...bio diesel. In the Northeast where i am, most people use oil to heat their houses, we are the most productive country in the world in terms of soy beans and other crops that are easily made to biodiesel.

Simply not enough farmland to meet our energy needs. Like ethanol - lots of fertilizer and energy is needed to produce one bushel of soybeans...

[red-beard]

I was at the Port of Houston 2 weeks ago and there were more oversized GE wings than you could shake several Orchards at.

Gaijin: To your point, I calculated the amount of Ethanol we could produce if every aerable acre were planted in the US (No food, no homes in places which crops can grow). We could replace only 1/2 of the gasoline usage. There would be no change in the other 1/2 of the Gasoline, or electricity usage, or Diesel, or coal, or Natural Gas, etc.

The only real alternative energy source is Nuclear. If we replaced all regular electricty usage with Nuclear, all heating with electric/Nuclear, all short distance transportation and long distance rail with electric/nuclear, we could reduce out impact on the world energy supplies and effect on the environment.

I am not a believer in Hydrogen as a motor fuel, due to the extreme flammability limits and reverse Joule-Thompson effect. It is much too dangerous.

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts
Don't quote me on this, but I think that GWB bought that ranch right before the first election. Not sure if he built that house on the property, or simply bought it. Not sure if it matters either way...

-Wayne

He bought in in 1999 and built the home shortly after.