Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Live Large/Live Small: Who's Which?

One who is "conservative" is one who takes Franklin's "waste not, want not" maxim seriously (among other things.) One who is "liberal" does not take that maxim too seriously, particularly with other people's money.

So let's see how that plays out in real life.

House #1: A 20 room mansion ( not including 8 bathrooms ) heated bynatural 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.

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.

Pictures are available at the link.

Most of you already get it. #1 is Al (Global Catastrophe) Gore's place. #2 belongs to GWB.

First time I've ever thought that GWB could possibly be a 'conservative.'

HT: John Lott

1 comment:

Disgruntled Car Salesman said...

One person cannot change the "global climate crisis." A concerted effort by the people of this planet will reverse the dooming effects of climate change, i.e. frilly light bulbs and Toyota Piouses. If we all change our ways to suit Al Gore, he won't have to change his. Not like he planned on it anyways.

Duh.

Besides, he buys "carbon credits" to offset his carbon footprint.