In one of my earlier posts, I referenced the fact that Al Gore was updating his massive (10,000 sq. ft.) fossil fuel consuming house to make it a little greener. Well I got to thinking, how does the Bush home in Crawford, TX stack up? I found several articles and verified the story was not an urban legend. The presidential residence is a 4,000 sq. ft. passive solar house that is heated and cooled via a geothermal pump (no oil or natural gas are used to heat the home), with a cistern and gray water collection system. The pool is also heated with the geothermal pump and is so efficient that the solar panels were canceled. These simple house designs can save you thousands each year in heating and cooling costs and are worth investigating.

Labels: Al Gore, energy efficient