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Tale of Two Houses

ATFATF Member Posts: 11,683 ✭✭✭
edited March 2007 in General Discussion
See Snoops.com for Authenticity



The four-bedroom home was planned so that "every room has a relationship
with something in the landscape that's different from the room next door.
Each of the rooms feels like a slightly different place."

The resulting single-story house is a paragon of environmental planning.

The passive-solar house is built of honey-colored native limestone and
positioned to absorb winter sunlight, warming the interior walkways and
walls of the 4,000-square-foot residence. Geothermal heat pumps circulate
water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground. These waters pass
through a heat exchange system that keeps the home warm in winter and
cool in summer.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof
urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into
underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The
water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around
the four-bedroom home, (which) uses indigenous grasses, shrubs, and
flowers to complete the exterior treatment of the home.

In addition to its minimal environmental impact, the look and layout of
the house reflect one of the paramount priorities: relaxation. A spacious
10-foot porch wraps completely around the residence and beckons the
family outdoors. With few hallways to speak of, family and guests make
their way from room to room either directly or by way of the porch.

"The house doesn't hold you in. Where the porch ends there is grass.
There is no step-up at all."

This house consumes 25% of the energy of an average American home.

(Source: Cowboys and Indians Magazine, Oct. 2002 and Chicago Tribune April 2001.)

House 2:

This 20-room, 8-bathroom house consumes more electricity every month than
the average American household uses in an entire year. The average
household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year,
according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, this house devoured
nearly 221,000 kWh, more than 20 times the national average. Last August
alone, the house burned through 22,619 kWh, guzzling more than twice the
electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an
entire year. As a result of this energy consumption, the average monthly
electric bill topped $1,359.

Also, natural gas bills for this house and guest house averaged $1,080
per month last year.

In total, this house had nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and
natural gas bills for 2006.

Source: just about anywhere in the news last month online and on talk radio, but barely on TV.)

House 1 belongs to George and Laura Bush, and is in Crawford , Texas .[^]

House 2 belongs to Al and Tipper Gore, and is in Nashville , Tennessee .[:(]

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