McMansions and Energy Inefficiency. Please proof this new inspection article.

[Nick Gromicko]

McMansions and Energy Inefficiency.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by gromicko

McMansions and Energy Inefficiency.

The worst article FINE HOMEBUILDING ever published a few years back was about a "green" home of 4-5,000 sq ft. HUH????

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

The worst article FINE HOMEBUILDING ever published a few years back was about a "green" home of 4-5,000 sq ft. HUH????

I hope you live in one of little foam igloos Brian and drive a smart car.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by mlarson

I hope you live in one of little foam igloos Brian and drive a smart car.

Michael:

My house was constructed in 1987- 1728 sq ft, 36x24' rectangular 2 storey with fully insulated basement......I didn't build it but it's quite energy efficient: 2"x4" walls with R12 fiberglass + 1" polyurethane panel sheathing -no wood sheathing- (actually better than a 2x6 wall with wood sheathing), R50+ in the attic, R22 in the basement
Total house energy costs per year- average $1,600 Canadian (electricity: 13.2 cents/kWh; 7,500 DD heating; no cooling)

Got to have a bigger car for HI: Volvo V70 Turbo wagon- can get my 24' JAWS ladder and all needed equipment in it. A very safe vehicle-my wife is a member of the "VOLVO SAVED MY LIFE" club as she was in a total loss accident with an 850 wagon 6 years ago; she was taken to hospital checked over and sent home- the medics told her the VOLVO saved her.

I don't need a monster truck like I see HI's standing in front of in some pics here!!

[Rob London]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

The worst article FINE HOMEBUILDING ever published a few years back was about a "green" home of 4-5,000 sq ft. HUH????

I'm sure they exist...but it wouldn't need all those green features if it was half the size.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by mlarson

I hope you live in one of little foam igloos Brian and drive a smart car.

BTW, Michael:

90-95% of my heating is provided by a very efficient cast iron, long life Vermont Castings wood stove. My wood sources are as close as 1/2 mile from my house (scrap softwood trimmings from an arborist that no one else wants since it's ONLY softwood) to about 40 miles for the better hardwood I buy for overnight burns........so:

1) The heat source is cheaply renewable......Mother Nature
2) The original energy source (energy does not come from zip) is free and clean- the sun
3) I support local entrepreneurs
4) since I can buy local, transportation costs and fossil CO2 production are low.

Wood burnt cleanly for energy is considered "neutral" in the large scheme!


And what's your energy footprint like??

[Michael Larson]

90-95% of my heating is provided by a very efficient cast iron, long life Vermont Castings wood stove. My wood sources are as close as 1/2 mile from my house (scrap softwood trimmings from an arborist that no one else wants since it's ONLY softwood) to about 40 miles for the better hardwood I buy for overnight burns........so:

Wow.

Think of all that pollution.

I hope you are buying carbon credits to offset your CO2 production.

Buy your offsets Here

Here is a handy calculator to help you figure out how many you should be buying.

Carbon Calculator

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Wow.

Think of all that pollution.

I hope you are buying carbon credits to offset your CO2 production.

Buy your offsets Here

Here is a handy calculator to help you figure out how many you should be buying.

Carbon Calculator

Michael:

I thought that you were smarter that that!!!

RE-READ THE POST AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND IT!!


And again.......What's your energy footprint like?

How many truly energy efficient houses have you been involved in or had an influence on.
From 1985 to 1992, I was a site advisor/inspector/"troubleshooter" for the New Brunswick R2000 program. In 1989 and 1993, 2 builders that I was site advisor to were named Canada's "R2000 Builder of the Year".....both in a little city with a population of 55-60,000.

Did you know that the R2000 home was the model that the American Lung Association adopted to begin the HEALTH HOUSE program they now offer. (actually began with the Minnesota chapter going north to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the mid-90's to look at R2000 homes and spread from there to the rest of the association) Joe Lstiburek was a technical co-chair of the Health House committee and help set the standards of the R2000 program while he was in Canada. Of course, now the Building America Program has quite a few of his imprints on it.
www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/building_america/about.html

[Michael Larson]

Brian, dance as much as you like but burning wood produces CO2 so your claim of a small footprint is bogus.

It takes 25 years to offset the carbon produced from burning "renewable" wood.

If CO2 is the enemy some want us to believe you are a contributor.

And as you well know a number of communities have banned the burning of wood because of the pollution caused to the local environment.

You can tout your credentials all day but I find your use of energy not consistent with your apparent green philosophy.

[Tim Spargo]

Mike,

I purchased a lot of those credits at your site...

I wasn't sure what I was buying at the time, but felt compelled.. can you explain it to me??

ps. I didn't really buy anything

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by tspargo

Mike,

I purchased a lot of those credits at your site...

I wasn't sure what I was buying at the time, but felt compelled.. can you explain it to me??

ps. I didn't really buy anything

Sure Tim.

You bought those credits so Al Gore could go on flying in his private fuel guzzling carbon footprint heavy jet around the world to convince you the end is near unless you buy more carbon credits.

It's the proverbial circle jerk.

Al thanks you.

Brian thanks you.

But some will just laugh at you.

I need to go turn the air conditioning a bit cooler.

[William J. Decker]

Did an energy audit for one of these, last winter (funny how people are never concerned about this until a) they get a huge gas bill or b) they start feeling cold>) 8,900 SF that was only 1 1/2 years old. Gas bill was running $12,000 per year.

Didn't need to run the blower door, just turn on the exhaust fans and the clothes dryer.

Air leaks all over the place. Thermal imaging showed multiple air leaks at sill plates, top plates and from behind the knee walls in the finished attic "bonus room).

2 x 6 studs, but the builder used Kraft paper fiberglass and didn't install the Kraft paper properly, didn't tape the house wrap, didn't properly seal the window and door openings (foam). Measured R value of the walls was only R 10!

Also, 3 cat 4 furnaces with the intake air coming from inside the house (no combustion air vents) and 3 direct vent tankless water heaters that were not directly vented. (No need for a blower door test )

All in all, pretty poor construction and certainly not in compliance with any energy codes (which we don't have around here, probably because no one around here knows how to build to those codes).

If I can, I will try to find the pictures.

Hope this helps;

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Brian, dance as much as you like but burning wood produces CO2 so your claim of a small footprint is bogus.

from a UK study:

"The carbon dioxide released when burning wood (about 1900g CO2 for each 1000g of wood burnt) is balanced by the fact that this carbon was taken up by the tree from the air when it grew. So this part of the emissions is carbon-neutral.
In terms of carbon neutrality, the burning of wood often ignores the fossil fuel used in the harvesting, preparation and transporting of wood."

IMHO, when I get the wood from a local source, there's a small fossil CO2 contribution and it creates local jobs. I don't see these jobs going to China like a lot of your manufacturing jobs have. How much fossil CO2 energy does it take to mine/produce coal, oil gas that is essentially carbon sequestered in the ground for millions of years; then we take it and burn it in geological seconds!!!

And......I never saw a tree that could virtually destroy the economy of a large section of a country. Talk to a few of your fellow citizens!


It takes 25 years to offset the carbon produced from burning "renewable" wood.

This from a response to an anti-wood blog:
"It is younger trees that do all the C02 absorbing and 02 ‘exhaling’. Older trees make little difference to net C02 absorption. The case is therefore for properly managed forests. That’s not to say that we should start cutting down old trees, but we should support responsibly managed forests"

If CO2 is the enemy some want us to believe you are a contributor.

I never said I wasn't a contributor! Anyone that lives in a developed economy is a contributor.

And as you well know a number of communities have banned the burning of wood because of the pollution caused to the local environment.

If they can't get the local yokels to buy EPA certified stoves and learn how to prepare wood properly and burn it cleanly, then "yes" ban wood burning. But it doesn't have to be that way. I was part of a province wide rebate program ($200 per stove) to get people to turn in their non-EPA inefficient dirty stoves. To ensure none got back on the market, the stoves were delivered to a metal re-cycler and immediately crushed while a dept. official was there. Also to get their $200 rebate folks had to show us a personalized receipt for a new EPA wood stove from a recognized wood stove dealer.

http://www.woodheat.org/environment/clyde.htm

You can tout your credentials all day but I find your use of energy not consistent with your apparent green philosophy.

Oh! most knowledgeable god, what should I be doing. According to you I can't die because I'll be releasing carbon that's been sequestered in my body for 60 years, let alone the 25 years you mention about trees!!

That's it.......... pay people to have more children and use up carbon from the air. Think of 12, then 24, then 48 billion people on the planet and how much carbon they'll sequester.....sounds like your weak reasoning and challenge to my energy use.

Deflect the question; Deflect the question; Deflect the question!!!

And again.......What's your energy footprint like?

Still nothing forthcoming......sounds like you're embarrassed or don't know! I know you don't care. It is easier to have blinders on about environmental issues.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by wdecker

Did an energy audit for one of these, last winter (funny how people are never concerned about this until a) they get a huge gas bill or b) they start feeling cold>) 8,900 SF that was only 1 1/2 years old. Gas bill was running $12,000 per year.

That is sick, Will!! Gas is usually the cheapest fuel around.

At some point a lot of these McMansions will become "white elephants" when the world economy picks up strongly again and oil goes over $100/bbl.

[Michael Larson]

Thank you for saving the planet Brian.

Al Gore would be proud.

Now about your spokesman's home

A VERY INCONVINIENT TRUTH: POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION