Monday, September 03, 2007

Tale of two Houses

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 this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year.
The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400.
In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area.
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 is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a 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 the winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter 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. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of the "environmentalist" Al Gore.
HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford,Texas; it is the residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
An "inconvenient truth" huh?.
"Do as I say but not as I do......"
Thanks to all who sent this to me.
I've got the day off today but have a full schedule.
Happy Birthday Beth, try and enjoy yourself.
Love to all
T

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Is Al Gore a hypocrite? Perhaps! Is George Bush an environmentalist? I doubt it! There's propaganda on all sides of this issue. The fact of the matter is that our climate is changing and this may be a big problem. Should we all try to do our little part to conserve and cut out waste? I think so. Do we need to mind the health of our economies? Yes, we do! Do I or anyone else who visits Terry's blog have all the answers? Definitely not!