Richard Tafoya
Jun 18th, 2007, 05:51 PM
AP:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-06-15-green-house_N.htm
From the street, Alicia Campbell's house looks no different from the others in her suburban cul-de-sac. But it has a secret: It's green — very green.
The four-bedroom home she shares with husband Jason Young and their two sons sucks no water from Australia's drought-stricken reservoirs, recycles everything from food scraps to sewage, and even pumps electricity back into Sydney's power grid.
...
Under the driveway lies a 6,600-gallon concrete tank with a steel lid. Each time it rains, a network of pipes feeds water from the roof through a flush system and into the tank. The first few gallons are diverted into the garden to eliminate any heavy metals, leaves and bird droppings.
...
A computer monitor shows the solar panels have produced 1.3 megawatt hours of electricity since they were installed, the equivalent of 1.2 tons of carbon dioxide on the coal-fired system.
At that rate, the family will save around five tons of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere over 12 months.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-06-15-green-house_N.htm
From the street, Alicia Campbell's house looks no different from the others in her suburban cul-de-sac. But it has a secret: It's green — very green.
The four-bedroom home she shares with husband Jason Young and their two sons sucks no water from Australia's drought-stricken reservoirs, recycles everything from food scraps to sewage, and even pumps electricity back into Sydney's power grid.
...
Under the driveway lies a 6,600-gallon concrete tank with a steel lid. Each time it rains, a network of pipes feeds water from the roof through a flush system and into the tank. The first few gallons are diverted into the garden to eliminate any heavy metals, leaves and bird droppings.
...
A computer monitor shows the solar panels have produced 1.3 megawatt hours of electricity since they were installed, the equivalent of 1.2 tons of carbon dioxide on the coal-fired system.
At that rate, the family will save around five tons of greenhouse gas from entering the atmosphere over 12 months.