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<DIV>This is pretty much what we did in 2005, except we did do a lot of
insulation. We live in a 1929 Craftsman bungalow, which had zero
insulation. we put 14 inches of cellulose insulation in the attic, filled the
walls, and then built new walls 5 inches inside of the existing exterior walls
and filled that with insulation. We got rid of natural gas service, I have
major moral problems with our local nat gas provider (Oklahoma Natural Gas) for
a variety of reasons related to my work with various Catholic charitable
organizations and decided I just didn’t want to do business with them
anymore. </DIV>
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<DIV>We put in an off the shelf mid-price electric water heater, and added an on
off switch, so most of the time it is off and we turn it on maybe twice a
week. People periodically tell me that that doesn’t save any energy, for
various reasons, and while it is true that I am not a scientist. . . as an
experiment we left it on 24/7 a couple of months in the fall when it wasn’t
especially hot or cold and our bill went up over a hundred dollars each month
(more than a thousand kilowatt hours) so I would say that the simple on off
switch does in fact save energy. Not to mention giving my poor frugal heart
pains when I opened the bill. The plan when we get more money is to add a solar
water heater.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We did other things like make R-20 insulated inside shutters for all our
windows, planted lots of vegetation to shade the property in the summer.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=alchemicalfranklen@gmail.com
href="mailto:alchemicalfranklen@gmail.com">Frank Cetera</A> <STRONG>money
</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 18, 2011 2:15 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org
href="mailto:greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org">greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Greenbuilding] No Fracking Way?</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">I'd
be interested in hearing folks' opinions and strategies surrounding the
following goal:<BR><BR>Implementing an urban home retrofit using only electrical
powered systems, with the potential of becoming an off-grid site in the future
through reduced energy consumption and on-site generation (with purchase of
alternative sources in the short-term), in order to relieve our dependance on
natural gas as a fuel source due to its potential for high environmental
damage. (This would not be a super-insulated passivhaus sort of design and
would rely on natural materials as much as possible for air sealing, insulation,
and built additions/restorations)<BR><BR>Short and long term considerations for
energy management and use on site?<BR>Favored heating, cooking, and water
heating in such a scenario?<BR>Other thoughts? (i.e. convince me not to do
this?)<BR><BR>Thank you ~Frank<BR><BR clear=all>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>Frank
Raymond Cetera<BR><A href="http://www.AlchemicalNursery.org"
target=_blank>www.AlchemicalNursery.org</A><BR><BR><BR>
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