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Originally posted by HippieSmell
you two feel that I should spend every last dollar I have to buy carbon credits
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I don't suggest you start eating cat food or anything. I have gathered you are someone who is so certain of OUR imminent demise that can be averted by human intervention. I'm sure even someone who is as "poor" as you are could find funds to offset your carbon footprint. Some examples; reduce the minutes on your cell phone...hell, get rid of your cell phone. Do you have cable tv, satellite even? How many video games do you buy in a year, how much music do you download?
Quote:
Originally posted by HippieSmell
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! $200 is ~2.5% of my income. What would that be for you wlagarde? My guess is at least $6,000. How about you virginia? If you two want to cry about how I'm a hypocrite, why don't you two put up or shut up?
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I built my house about 1 1/2 yrs ago. I calculated about a 20% premium to have it built in manner that would allow me to be very low impact. As stated before, all of my non-potable water is a rain water collection system($15,000), I take military style showers(soap up, turn off water while I wash then back on to rinse.), turn OFF the water when actually brushing my teeth instead of letting it run the whole time, hot water heater is a demand only system about the size of a brief case($1,500), I use a hot water loop so I don't have to let the water run to get hot water($50), cloths washer is a front loading style that uses less than a gallon of water per load($1,500), cloths are hung out to dry when the temp allows for it(which is most of the year), geothermal water loop for mid range temp control($10,000), 16 SEER furnace and air conditioning for extreme temps($3,000 x 3), about 50% of my daytime lighting is provided by solar tubes($2,000), I recycle and compost, most of my "refrigeration" is done in my root/wine cellar(I do have a small refrigerator for fresh fish, dairy and meat). All of my meat and dairy is harvested locally and last but not least not a SINGLE splinter of wood was used in any fashion in the construction. It is 100% concrete, recycled plastic polymers, steel and glass. It's not one of these ultra modern homes either. If you didn't no any better you would swear it was a circa 1800 Victorian.
My motivation was not to "save the earth" either. I live in a roual aria where "services" are iffy at best. I also like the idea of self sufficiency.