A Tale of Two Houses
LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES
AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.
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 o n 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.
AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.
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 o n 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.
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I have no use for Mr. Gore but speaking only as an idiot engineer I can tell you that geothermal heating and cooling are great...in suitable locations. Site geology, soil types and Hydrology; ground or surface water availability, also play a huge part in deciding to go this route. There are factors like depth (drilling 300 feet is fine but drill 3000 feet? It is not going to happen), volume (you don't want to drain the aquifier), and water quality (if you use an open loop system there will be discharge issues) to consider and just because GW's home site in Crawford is suitable does not mean that Al's Nashville estate would have identical conditions. 0 -
I think you missed the point.
But, I will say that you think like a nganeer.
D.0 -
The point seems to be that Mr Gore has fallen in the "Do as I say, Not as I do" trap; the same one that seems to infect just about everyone ever elected of office in washington DC. 0 -
bingo 0 -
quote:Originally posted by kimi
HOUSE # 2:
The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest.I'm not sure of textbook definitions for those terms, but that region of Texas is about 700 ft. above sea level and gets around 40in. of rainfall annually.0 -
Yeah, but Algore's house really is ecologically friendly 'cause he bought some kind of eco credits or something. 0 -
Maybe now the right-wing fist-thumpers will get over themselves and stop being so hostile to the notion that being environmentally friendly is such a horrible thing. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by ElMuertoMonkey
Maybe now the right-wing fist-thumpers will get over themselves and stop being so hostile to the notion that being environmentally friendly is such a horrible thing.
Monkey, I don't think many people are "hostile to the notion that being environmentally friendly is such a horrible thing."
I'm hostile to some of the wacko notions some of the environmentally friendly lunatic fringe come up with. Some of these brilliant thinkers now want to put reflectors in space to prevent some of the sun's rays from reaching Earth to reverse "global warming".
One example of the well thought out measures of the environmentally friendly do-gooders is the plastic/paper bag controversy. There had been a pretty good balance between the pulpwood industry, the paper industry and demand for paper products for well over a century. Without even rudimentary research we jerked a knee and went to plastic to save a tree. All the research necessary would have been go to a tree farmer and ask "how does it work?". Now the tree huggers see the results of knee jerk actions so they want to jerk the other knee.
If economic forces are allowed to work naturally, the economy will lead people do doing environmentally friendly things. Recycled aluminum and most other metals are cheaper than "new" metals. That's why a lot or metal is recycled. You can't pay a recycler to take paper. Why? Because "new" paper is cheaper than recycled paper. When pulpwood starts to be in short supply, the situation will reverse itself.
Say I own a house with an average electricity bill of $250.00 per month. Say for an investment of $25,000 to $30,000, I could reduce that bill to $200 per month. I think I'll hold off on that investment. When electricity gets more scarce and the bill goes to $2,500 per month, I'll rethink my position.
I'm not out to destroy the Earth. I just don't want to jump on every bandwagon which rolls down the road.0
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