Going Green In the Subdivision

I was searching for articles for the Election Reform Forum when I stumbled upon this. I thought it was a pretty interesting article, so figured I'd post it in this forum.

Saturday, June 02, 2007 | Updated at 7:17 AM EDT

Going green in the subdivision
TAMSIN MCMAHON

(Jun 2, 2007)

The greenest house in Guelph is in a rather unlikely spot.

Tucked away among an expanse of land scrubbed bare for development, the experimental home by a Cambridge-area developer is turning heads across the country as one of first mass-produced model homes designed to save energy and recycle water.

The 2,700-square-foot (250-square-metre), three-bedroom home looks much like its neighbours in the Westminster Woods subdivision, except for the 10,000-gallon cistern buried in the backyard that pumps rainwater into the home's toilets, dishwashers and washing machines.

Missing are the furnace and air conditioning unit, replaced by solar panels on the roof connected to geothermal loops dug 174 feet (53 metres) into the ground that draw heat from the earth to warm the house or store excess heat to keep the house cool.

>more
http://www.therecord.com/home_page_front_story/home_page_front_story_1058630.html

Where is Guelph? I wonder how geothermal AC would work in FL?

Here's a link to the Google map:

http://maps.google.com/

there are 2 kinds of geo. One is active geothermal energy, creating electricity from rising steam found below the surface. The other (which is availible to virtually anyone) takes advantage of this fact - just about everywhere in the world, no matter what the surface temperature, the ground a few dozen feet below you is a steady 50 degrees or so. You run pipes down there and in the summer you bring up cool air to chill your house. In the winter, you pre-heat your air (50 is better than minus 10!) and thus its easier to warm up.