Amazing House

Okay, I'm trying to catch up on my blogging. A few weeks ago my brother and I went to see this amazing house in the Kirkwood community of Atlanta. It is a really cool neighborhood and the house is awesome. It contains over 70 energy-saving features.

For my many loyal readers out there, you can check out the house at: http://www.mindspring.com/~velodave/Map.htm

Some of the features of the house include a tankless water heater, a rainwater collector (for outdoor water needs), and Pro-Foam insulation. The house is so well insulated and designed that the air condition is hardly needed. I believe that David, the owner, said his electric bill was only about $45 a month tops.

There are many, many other neat features to this house ranging from recycled carpet, decking made of recycled plastics, and super efficient appliances.

What I learned from this house tour is that it IS possible for humans to live without using hardly any energy. There are many ramifications to this. Less energy means less air pollution and global warning. Less energy means less dependence on the volatile Middle East for oil. In other words, less energy means more social and environmental stability, and that is a good thing for us AND the Planet.

The problem is that there is strong market pressure to build homes as cheaply as possible — as cheaply as the building codes will allow. This is unfortunate because some energy saving features can pay for themselves in just a few years.

I could go on and on about this topic, but I will just end by saying that less energy means more peace. Not abusing the environment is a form of peace.

I really salute, admire, and respect David for creating this wonderful home that he regularly uses as a showcase for education. What an outreach! What an example, and what an inspiration!!!

Thanks, David, for the great Sunday afternoon tour. My brother and I loved it.

Note: After posting this, David sent me some additional information about his fascinating home:

• The house uses over 50 individual sustainable technologies or techniques. The most interesting to me are the Interface FLOR rug made of corn, the deck from old coke bottles, the walkways and retaining wall made from the foundation of the house that burned, and the clawfoot bathtub we found in another old house.
• Southface calculated (assuming similar consumption demands) that the house should use 40% of the energy of a similar size house built conventionally.
• Over the last 24 months, the TOTAL of my gas, electric, and water bills has averaged about $105.
• People ask how much more it cost to build than a regular house. I don’t know how to answer them, for two reasons. First, many of the technologies were implemented using systems thinking (see Donella Meadows and Peter Senge for more on this), and an investment in one or two technologies often resulted in a cost savings on a third. An example is that my choice of high quality windows and insulation resulted in the need for a smaller AC unit. The other reality is that the house appraised for $30,000 more than I paid for it. I’m not sure my choice in technologies cost me any more at all.