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:
- Wind generation
- Geothermal power
- 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.