A Tale of Two Houses

The forum for general posting. Come join the madness. :)
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
PlacentiaSoccerMom
Posts: 8134
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:47 am
Location: Placentia, CA
Contact:
Contact PlacentiaSoccerMom

A Tale of Two Houses

#1 Post by PlacentiaSoccerMom » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:08 pm

A friend sent this to me:

Image

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. per month. 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.

Image

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 i t 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 outsid e of Nashville, Tennessee; it is the abode of
the Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas; it is the residence the of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Top
User avatar
Bob Juch
Posts: 27033
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:58 am
Location: Oro Valley, Arizona
Contact:
Contact Bob Juch

#2 Post by Bob Juch » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:41 pm

I've seen that before. That's not a photo of Gore's house.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
- Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to drive in New Jersey.
Top
User avatar
Jeemie
Posts: 7303
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:35 pm
Location: City of Champions Once More (Well, in spirit)!!!!

#3 Post by Jeemie » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:26 pm

Bob Juch wrote:I've seen that before. That's not a photo of Gore's house.
But the descriptions are true.

Just shows that Bush, an oil man, was well aware that energy was going to get expensive.
1979 City of Champions 2009
Top
User avatar
PlacentiaSoccerMom
Posts: 8134
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:47 am
Location: Placentia, CA
Contact:
Contact PlacentiaSoccerMom

#4 Post by PlacentiaSoccerMom » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:37 pm

Bob Juch wrote:I've seen that before. That's not a photo of Gore's house.
Sorry, it was in my email.

Is this his house?

Image
Top
User avatar
themanintheseersuckersuit
Posts: 7631
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 6:37 pm
Location: South Carolina

#5 Post by themanintheseersuckersuit » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:25 am

Jeemie wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:I've seen that before. That's not a photo of Gore's house.
But the descriptions are true.

Just shows that Bush, an oil man, was well aware that energy was going to get expensive.
And Al the enviro genius didn't?
Suitguy is not bitter.

feels he represents the many educated and rational onlookers who believe that the hysterical denouncement of lay scepticism is both unwarranted and counter-productive

The problem, then, is that such calls do not address an opposition audience so much as they signal virtue. They talk past those who need convincing. They ignore actual facts and counterargument. And they are irreparably smug.
Top
User avatar
Jeemie
Posts: 7303
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:35 pm
Location: City of Champions Once More (Well, in spirit)!!!!

#6 Post by Jeemie » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:41 am

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:
Jeemie wrote:
Bob Juch wrote:I've seen that before. That's not a photo of Gore's house.
But the descriptions are true.

Just shows that Bush, an oil man, was well aware that energy was going to get expensive.
And Al the enviro genius didn't?
Obviously not.
1979 City of Champions 2009
Top
User avatar
ghostjmf
Posts: 7434
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:09 am

#7 Post by ghostjmf » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:18 am

I dunno why I'm biting here, but anyway:

The cost of making your mansion ecologically cool is scarily prohibitive even for millionaires. For all that state of the art stuff, you have to spend.

The only thing here that impresses me is that Bush can take 67 degrees when its colder out. I imagine it does get cold some days in Texas, in the winter; it did in Arizona when I was there. Now, my thermostat in Somerville, MA is set at 68 degrees F in the winter. But then I don't have, uh, energy to burn. 68 in the summer would be nice (I'd prefer 65) but I have no way to get it there.
Top
User avatar
MarleysGh0st
Posts: 27965
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:55 am
Location: Elsewhere

#8 Post by MarleysGh0st » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:39 am

ghostjmf wrote:The only thing here that impresses me is that Bush can take 67 degrees when its colder out. I imagine it does get cold some days in Texas, in the winter; it did in Arizona when I was there. Now, my thermostat in Somerville, MA is set at 68 degrees F in the winter. But then I don't have, uh, energy to burn. 68 in the summer would be nice (I'd prefer 65) but I have no way to get it there.
A heat pump takes the heat out of that 67 degree water and concentrates it, so to speak, to heat the house to a higher temperature, just as your refrigerator can pump heat out of it and into a warmer room.
Top
User avatar
Ritterskoop
Posts: 5858
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:16 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC

#9 Post by Ritterskoop » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:58 am

Shoot. I thought this would be about the Montagues and the Capulets.
If you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked. - Tom Robbins
--------
At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you. - attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Top
User avatar
PlacentiaSoccerMom
Posts: 8134
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:47 am
Location: Placentia, CA
Contact:
Contact PlacentiaSoccerMom

#10 Post by PlacentiaSoccerMom » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:11 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:Shoot. I thought this would be about the Montagues and the Capulets.
Sorry. :)
Top
User avatar
ne1410s
Posts: 2961
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 5:26 pm
Location: The Friendly Confines

#11 Post by ne1410s » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:01 pm

Gore has a nice house.

If you've booked passage on the Titanic, why go steerage?
"When you argue with a fool, there are two fools in the argument."
Top
User avatar
silvercamaro
Dog's Best Friend
Posts: 9608
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:45 am

#12 Post by silvercamaro » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:03 pm

ne1410s wrote:

If you've booked passage on the Titanic, why go steerage?
Exactly. That's what the little people are for.
Top
User avatar
Jeemie
Posts: 7303
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:35 pm
Location: City of Champions Once More (Well, in spirit)!!!!

#13 Post by Jeemie » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:29 pm

ghostjmf wrote:I dunno why I'm biting here, but anyway:

The cost of making your mansion ecologically cool is scarily prohibitive even for millionaires. For all that state of the art stuff, you have to spend.

The only thing here that impresses me is that Bush can take 67 degrees when its colder out. I imagine it does get cold some days in Texas, in the winter; it did in Arizona when I was there. Now, my thermostat in Somerville, MA is set at 68 degrees F in the winter. But then I don't have, uh, energy to burn. 68 in the summer would be nice (I'd prefer 65) but I have no way to get it there.
Isn't it funny how much sensation of temperature is subjective?

You say you'd prefer 65 degrees in summer, yet a temperature two degrees warmer is too cold for you in winter.

PS- I set the temp for 64 in winter and 74-76 in summer- the trick is to have a good dehumidifier in summer, and a warm mist HUMIDIFIER in winter.
1979 City of Champions 2009
Top
Post Reply

Return to “WWTBAM Bored Posts”