Another Green Home Example (Of Failure)

The KC Star had an article today that is a beautiful example of all that is wrong -- and braindead -- with the environmentalist wacko movement.

An 800-square-foot house may not sound like much, but one recently built in Rolla, Mo., is special enough to take up residence near the Washington Monument.

The occasion is the Solar Decathlon, for which two Missouri universities have teamed up to compete against 19 other university groups. Each team has designed and built a renewable energy house that will be part of a "solar village" expected to draw 200,000 spectators on the National Mall.

Okay, fine.  Sounds nice, and best of luck to the local groups.  But...

Think of the Solar Decathlon as an NCAA tournament, but with hoop dreams replaced by dreams of energy independence.

*sigh*

There is absolutely no credible or robust evidence that we'll ever be able to become independent of fossil fuels for energy.  Ever.  Anywhere.  At all.  Sure, we get a few percentage points of our current energy needs from wind or solar power, or ethanol, but the bottom line is that no 'alternative' energy source provides the economically viable bang for our production buck that oil, natural gas, and coal do.  In fact, none of those 'alternative' energy sources would even survive in a free market at all without massive politically motivated government subsidies.  Thus, while this project is perhaps commendable in concept, it is also completely misguided in practice.

The competing homes will be able to use the electric grid but, through their renewable sources, are expected to produce at least as much energy as they use during the several-day contest. The houses will get extra points if they produce an energy surplus, and the winner also will have to do well in categories that include being attractive, comfortable and easy to live in.

Nice idea, but it won't work.  Even if they manage to make it energy neutral, I guarantee you it won't be attractive, comfortable, and easy to live in.  More on that in a moment.  But just think about this - they want to pump in a certain amount of energy, and then pull back out more energy than that?!  What sort of strange, magical alchemy do they think is capable of creating energy from nothing?  Moving on:

The event is backed heavily by the U.S. Department of Energy, which screened and pared 40 entrants to this year's 20 contestants. The department also gave $100,000 to each of the teams to help with expenses and is allowing the temporary use of the mall — prime Washington real estate.

And there's your government subsidy.  I'd be a lot more impressed if they could do this sort of thing without wasting any taxpayer dollars.  But get a load of the actual budget for this thing:

The Missouri schools and about 40 of their students have been working for more than a year on the design and construction of the home, at times putting in more than 12-hour days. The students also had to raise the bulk of the project's $600,000 budget, which paid for the house and other expenses.

$600,000?!  Surely this was a massive palace, then, with all the modern conveniences we could imagine, right?  *cough, cough*  Riiiiiight...

The house, which has a bedroom, kitchen and living room, had to be built according to Solar Decathlon rules, including its size and using only off-the-shelf materials or components.

Its dishwasher, washer and dryer meet the Energy Star efficiency standards. Paneling with high-density foam insulation, available from a Jefferson City company, was used for exterior walls. Electricity is generated with 40 photovoltaic panels on the roof.

Solar-heated water — besides being available for showers and dishwashing — circulates through hoses under the floor to help heat the house. A high-efficiency heat pump will provide cooling and backup heating.

The house is programmed to operate at peak efficiency. For instance, if the dishwasher needs to run, it turns on when the water heater is getting the most "solar gain" — meaning more plentiful hot water.

So...this $600k house was made from the same stuff your house was, can't run the dishwasher unless it's sunny out, and offers a whole 800 square feet!  When can I move in?  Better yet, why don't they give me $600k, I'll be in charge of building a house that actually is comfortable and entertaining, energy efficient, and far bigger than 800 square feet, as long as I get to pocket the difference.  I suspect every one of you would take that deal, too.

Um...a question: how hot does the water get?  Is it actually hot -- like hot enough for a good shower -- or just lukewarm?  And how much heat is provided by the water hoses under the floor?  If this thing is that well insulated, is it going to be enough to warm the air inside, especially during a long, cold winter day?  And what happens if it's cloudy for a month straight?  The questions go on, but the point is that while this entire concept sounds happy-happy-joy-joy, reality just has a way of bursting the bubble.

You know, this reminds me of something.  Hm, what was it?  Oh yeah, another almost-$1 million 'green' house that was so environmentally friendly that it failed to be livable.  Guess why?  Frozen pipes.  Seems like a precedent to me.

Go ahead, you can accuse me of trying to pooh-pooh early efforts at becoming more energy efficient.  I'm not against energy efficiency, nor against alternative energy sources.  It just burns me up when Leftists use this issue for political purposes, pushing lies (like we're running out of oil) and hysteria (like saying that we're destroying the planet), and actively preventing domestic energy production (as Dems have done with almost 100% consistency for the past 40 years).  If we had our eyes clear and our minds engaged, these frivolous energy rabbits wouldn't be running around all over the place, we'd have $0.75/gallon gasoline, and vastly less concern about Middle East oil politics.

Welcome to the results of the environmentalist flavor of radical liberalism.

There's my two cents.

PS - I wonder if these student designers are going to be forced to live in their wonderful new creation for a few months to prove their viability as real homes?  Seems like that would be the ultimate test, don't you think?  Then again, maybe not...we already know that environmentalists gravitate toward the stone ages and grossness, so maybe they'd enjoy it...ick.