Okay, yesterday I whined about how hard it is to go green.  So let me give you a bit more info...

So I'm building a new house for our family. I decided early on that I wanted to go green.  I happen to be in the fortunate position to go all out here.

So let's go over the techs:

1. Wind generation
2. Geothermal power
3. solar power

So there you go, the three main renewal energy sources you can use on a new house.

So what's the problem?

Let's start with wind generation.  To get this to work, you need to really be on the water where there's adequate wind. In-land, where I am, there's little wind unless you are willing to put it high. And by high, I mean really high. Like 100 feet. It gets more fun, you need  to have it be in a pretty cleared area.  Now, most people in a residential area can't really do this or if you do, you'll be very unpopular. Most of the wind turbines generate the same amount of noise as say a vacuum cleaner going 24/7 which is definitely not going to make you popular. I have enough property but I'm not willing to cut down tons of trees and put up a 100 foot pole.  But let's say I was, because I'm in so far in-land, there's still not enough wind to power the house.

Geothermal is more promising, to a point. It's very expensive.  And requires electricity to run in order to use it effectively to heat the house.  I am going with this because I can use it to heat the house and the water.  But it's not something that most people would be willing to go with.

Solar power requires a south facing house, it's expensive, and it doesn't generate very much power so you have to put up a lot of them.

There's also using solar to heat water which is promising only if you are one of those people who would use solar to heat a water tank which with geothermal is not necessary in my case and even if I wasn't using geothermal, I would choose a tankless setup anyway.

Now, I am doing all the little things to go green like choosing the right windows and lighting but that's pretty piddly in the bigger scheme of things.

As a practical matter, trying to build a zero-emissions house is pretty much impossible.  Even trying to come close is almost impossible.