Go and hug a tree and you'll be ok,you know the world is going to end ONE day,who knows,it might be in your live time,wouldn't that be something,I mean you weren't here when it started but you might be here when it ends,fantastic huh? RICHARD GAUTHIER
Yes, I already have.
Not only have I significantly reduced polution and greenhouse gasses but a nice side effect is that my monthly expenses have dropped by about $2000 per month thereby enabling me to save more money and am planning to retire soon. I'm 43. There are other benefits besides just saving the earth.
I try to reduce my energy consumption by 10% a year. Not too hard... for the first 5 years in a house. I made it this year. Year 6 usually gets harder.
The technology gets cheaper and cheaper. Compact florescents used to cost 15 bucks a pop. Now, they cost about 2.50. Halogen bulbs were about 7, now they're 1.50.
It's not hard to make big gains when replacing furnaces, major appliances, etc. Usually get about 25% energy savings when replacing.
This year we moved. In the "new" house I installed compact florescents in 10 lights, going from 1000 watts total to 250. Same amount of light. Replaced my water heater, saved 25%. Same amount of hot water. (Wish I could have gone tankless!) And so on.
When I build my farmhouse, it will use passive solar techniques. I would like to use a geothermal heat pump for the heating and cooling, maybe even run it off of solar and wind. I'm still researching/designing it. Those geothermal pumps are awesome technology. The only energy input is electricity to run the heat pump. There's a local guy here (Minnesota) in the case study the electric utility has posted that heats and cools his 4500 square foot house with a geothermal heat pump for about 40 bucks a month. By contrast, my 2500 sq ft house costs 300 bucks a month to heat (January/February) with a conventional gas boiler.
The point is, we can deal with this problem with better technology. Let the engineers loose on the problem, and a lot of good things will happen that don't impact people's lifestyles.
>There's a political agenda at work all right. And it's being funded with petrodollars.
The same people are always pushing that line are the same one who want to do nothing about hundreds of thousands of acres of forest burning up every year, because that's "natural". If people are in the way, too bad. These "people" would rather see it burn than manage it responsibly, that is if management might involve a chainsaw (or god forbid, used to make a "profit"). You never see industry owned timber land going up in flames. That's because it's valuable, it's their future, so they manage and protect it. It's probably much higher quality forest for enduring this "management" and probably support more wildlife and more "diverse" wildlife. Hey you guys should love that last part.
Sorry for the RANT, I just saw this one post and couldn't let it pass on by [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
We built a solar house a few years ago. Backup heat is electric from the grid. So far the worst month's heating bill was $100. Most are about $50-$75. And that's electric. Figure about 1/2 that if we used propane and about 1/4 for oil. About $30-$50 per month for AC. Very comfortable house. The biggest temp variation within the house on the coldest day has been 0.8 degrees F. And that's because there is apparently an insulation problem on an outside wall near a vent that comes from the heat storage in the basement slab.
I used some of the techniques I learned from building the house on the garage. Even though the garage is conventional 2x4 construction with no insulation - it stays at least 10-15 degrees warmer than outside temps throughout winter. And it's detached so no warmth from the house. The garage has allowed me to save ALOT of money on cars and car repairs. Probably at least $100 grand over the years. It's comfortable, well lit and for safety and convenience I have a second hand car lift.
Good luck with your new home. I hope it works for you. I get great joy from knowing that my house does not pollute and yet uses less energy than anyone else's house around
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