Environmental Issues

[280plus]

This seems to check out:

Interesting Stats
Don't you just love hypocrisy?

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by

gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR.  The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 / month.  In natural gas alone
(which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than
20 times the national average for an American home.  This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt," either.  It's in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide.  The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest.  A central

closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.  The water
(usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer.  The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern.  The collected

water then irrigates the land surrounding the house.  Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

 


HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,Tennessee.  It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist
(and filmmaker) Al Gore.


HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

[Art Eatman]

Lessee.  I have 1,400 sq-ft of house.  My summer electric bill (which includes a separate meter on the pump that supplies my water) in 110-degree daytime highs has yet to exceed $100 a month.  The meter fees are $35 of that, to be paid even with zero usage.

I use propane for my water heater and stove, plus winter heating.  So far, I rarely use over 200 gallons per year.  My electric bill drops down by some $25 per month during the winter.

Since I mostly drive a 1985 Toyota pickup, that's a lot of energy that wasn't indirectly used by me in new-car manufacture.

Bubba, I am so green I'm mildewed!

, Art

[Manedwolf]

Our supposedly "green" democratic governor just built an 11,000sq/ft mansion on environmentally sensitive land.

Oh, and his newly elected buddies just voted down excluding farms from the new "view tax" that farmers can ill-afford to pay.

Hypocrisy, with additional insult.

[HankB]

Oh, and his newly elected buddies just voted down excluding farms from the new "view tax" that farmers can ill-afford to pay.

What the heck is a "view tax?"

Sounds really insidious . . .

[Manedwolf]

Oh, and his newly elected buddies just voted down excluding farms from the new "view tax" that farmers can ill-afford to pay.

What the heck is a "view tax?"

Sounds really insidious . . .

If you have a really nice view, like an uninterrupted sweep over the hills and fields to the mountains, you pay higher property taxes.

GUESS WHERE most farmhouses were built? Where they could, oh, see their fields from the window?

[280plus]

Now that's some mighty fine planning right there. 

I've just come from the accountant with the official end of year tally. I grossed $90K, cost of sales was $38K, expenses was $29K and my net was ~$24K. Now, considering expenses includes most of my gas, phones, DSL etc etc so the $24K is what I took out of the business to pay my personal bills. mortgage, food Between the "self employment tax" (you may know it as Social Security) and state and federal taxes the combined .govs want $5,800 of my $24K. Now, if that ain't enough to make you sick, I don't know what is. Funnier yet, the more you make, the more they take. They make it nearly impossible for the average self employed yo yo to EVER get ahead PLUS they're taking 15.2% of my $24K and applying it to an account that they tell me will only be able to support 74% of my expected retirement income. How wonderful... 

[charby]

Now that's some mighty fine planning right there. 

I've just come from the accountant with the official end of year tally. I grossed $90K, cost of sales was $38K, expenses was $29K and my net was ~$24K. Now, considering expenses includes most of my gas, phones, DSL etc etc so the $24K is what I took out of the business to pay my personal bills. mortgage, food Between the "self employment tax" (you may know it as Social Security) and state and federal taxes the combined .govs want $5,800 of my $24K. Now, if that ain't enough to make you sick, I don't know what is. Funnier yet, the more you make, the more they take. They make it nearly impossible for the average self employed yo yo to EVER get ahead PLUS they're taking 15.2% of my $24K and applying it to an account that they tell me will only be able to support 74% of my expected retirement income. How wonderful... 

That is why I am not self employed anymore. I used to net 50-60k a year until I paid all the taxes so I know your pain. (I quit about five years ago, used to be a jack of all trades handyman/lawnmowing/landscaping/snowremoval guy for about 4 years)
-C

[Ben]

GUESS WHERE most farmhouses were built? Where they could, oh, see their fields from the window?

What state are you in Manedwolf?

[280plus]

Sorry 'bout the OT rant but it IS my thread and I kinda feel a little better now, not a lot... 

[Art Eatman]

Thread drift, about hilltop farmhouses:  The hilltop is the least fertile land.  It dries out faster after rains, so any livestock in pens or corrals are less likely to have hoof rot from being in mud.  And, obviously, it's less subject to flooding from any nearby river.

Art