# The Story of Two Houses



## MOB (Mar 10, 2005)

I saw this today, thought it would be worthy of a cut and paste for your discussion

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 on
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.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON'T
hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the
Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it's truly "an inconvenient truth."


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## nickwesterholm (Nov 16, 2006)

i love it


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## Southwest Fisher (May 14, 2004)

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

So essentially because the neighborhood is filled with energy hogs it makes it ok for Gore to be one????? That is what they are saying. Also, because he purchases from a green source (whatever that is) does it make it any less energy consumption? The answer there is simple: no. If he was not using that "green energy" it would available to a non energy hog. Until there is a surplus of green energy his use of it is smoke and mirrors. 
What is green energy? I find most are a hoax. Wind energy is less destructive although placement of those wind turbines determines how environmentally friendly they are. Place them in a migratory rout and you kill thousands of birds. I am aware of a radio tower that people thought killed very few birds. When nets were placed under it they found it killed many birds. Evidently predators were picking then off the ground quickly before people could count them.

SWfisher thanks for that confirmation.  It's all perspective isn't it?


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