Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Published on September 26, 2008 By Draginol In Building a home

Okay, yesterday I whined about how hard it is to go green.  So let me give you a bit more info...

So I'm building a new house for our family. I decided early on that I wanted to go green.  I happen to be in the fortunate position to go all out here.

So let's go over the techs:

  1. Wind generation
  2. Geothermal power
  3. solar power

So there you go, the three main renewal energy sources you can use on a new house.

So what's the problem?

Let's start with wind generation.  To get this to work, you need to really be on the water where there's adequate wind. In-land, where I am, there's little wind unless you are willing to put it high. And by high, I mean really high. Like 100 feet. It gets more fun, you need  to have it be in a pretty cleared area.  Now, most people in a residential area can't really do this or if you do, you'll be very unpopular. Most of the wind turbines generate the same amount of noise as say a vacuum cleaner going 24/7 which is definitely not going to make you popular. I have enough property but I'm not willing to cut down tons of trees and put up a 100 foot pole.  But let's say I was, because I'm in so far in-land, there's still not enough wind to power the house.

Geothermal is more promising, to a point. It's very expensive.  And requires electricity to run in order to use it effectively to heat the house.  I am going with this because I can use it to heat the house and the water.  But it's not something that most people would be willing to go with.

Solar power requires a south facing house, it's expensive, and it doesn't generate very much power so you have to put up a lot of them.

There's also using solar to heat water which is promising only if you are one of those people who would use solar to heat a water tank which with geothermal is not necessary in my case and even if I wasn't using geothermal, I would choose a tankless setup anyway.

Now, I am doing all the little things to go green like choosing the right windows and lighting but that's pretty piddly in the bigger scheme of things.

As a practical matter, trying to build a zero-emissions house is pretty much impossible.  Even trying to come close is almost impossible.


Comments
on Sep 26, 2008

You can build your own Hydrogen Cell Generator... basically make one for a car that is plugged up to your house.  There's kits online... but you have to find the Hydrogen then.

You can also crack the Cold Fusion Equation and get a Nobel Prize for it... another useful effort, on 2 fronts.

And if that doesn't work, you can always drill for oil right in your back yard... at least you'd be self contained.  Might even turn a profit.

on Sep 27, 2008

Well, lacking magical technologies , my point is that when you sit down and actually TRY To go green it's really a pipe dream.

I'm willing to spend the money. I have quite a bit of space and the most I can realistically do is go geothermal which still requires some (though less) energy to run.

The wind generation is particularly disappointing. People spazzing about wind power need to shut the hell up until they actually look into it instead of just cheer leading in ignorance.

on Sep 30, 2008

step one, look up local power companies in your area.

step two, sign up for a 100% wind/hydro/green plan for 1 to 2 cents per KWH more then the basic "whatever is cheapest" plan.

Congrats, you are green, I have been 100% green for months now thanks to that. As an added bonus, the more I WASTE electricity, the more I subsidize the construction of green tech. And I create 0 pollution instead of reducing it by 10% like I would if I paid a lot more to "save" electricity

on Sep 30, 2008

PS. In texas it costs me 1.3 cents per KWH to have 100% wind instead of the typical coal/gas energy...

on Sep 30, 2008

PPS = those home generation plants are not for going green, they are for having independant power sources in remote locations.

on Oct 11, 2008

taltamir
step one, look up local power companies in your area.step two, sign up for a 100% wind/hydro/green plan for 1 to 2 cents per KWH more then the basic "whatever is cheapest" plan.Congrats, you are green, I have been 100% green for months now thanks to that. As an added bonus, the more I WASTE electricity, the more I subsidize the construction of green tech. And I create 0 pollution instead of reducing it by 10% like I would if I paid a lot more to "save" electricity

You seriously need to do more research into this if you think that local wind power is even remotely widely available.

 

on Oct 13, 2008

places that don't have wind power typically have either solar, hydro, or nuclear. All of which are 100% clean.

But it is true, some places do not have access to any of these.

on Oct 13, 2008

taltamir


places that don't have wind power typically have either solar, hydro, or nuclear. All of which are 100% clean.
But it is true, some places do not have access to any of these.

I don't have access to any of these. We have one nuclear plant in the state which is very far away (Fermi). Michigan is pretty poor for hydro or solar.

 

on Oct 14, 2008

I agree.  Green is a pipe dream.  It's not cost effective and it's not 100%.  Commendable for at least trying to do something to help though.  I mean, if you have the resources, why not right?  You can't take it with you.  I'd go geothermal and solar if I were building and had disposable income.