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Our commitment to
sustainable building is to be "Zero Energy" by 2012.
To be Zero Energy we intend to
power our residence and office with 100%
renewable energy (solar and wind) and to drive as energy
efficient cars as are available.
To this goal, we currently;
- Our residence and office were rated 5-star by the City of
Austin Green Building Program.
- 100% of our home energy is provided by the City of Austin
Greenchoice program which gets 100% of its supply from West Texas wind
farms.
- We have a 3 kilowatt Pholtovoltaic Energy System, providing
between 300-500 kilowatts per month.
- We have two automobiles. Our primary car is a Toyota
Prius which gets about 45 mpg. And our second car is a Toyota
Rav-4 which gets about 25 mpg.
- We recycle glass, plastic, and cardboard.
- We utilize cloth shopping bags.
In the future;
- We are currently doing an addition to our residence and
offfice, which will be rated 5-star by the City of Austin Green
Building Program.
- We plan on expanding our Solar Photovoltaic Energy System
from 3kw to 13kw and plan on utilizing low-speed wind turbines to
completely power our home and office, effectively reaching a Zero
Energy home.
- We plan on upgrading our Toyota Prius to a Plug-in
Hybrid, when the technology becomes available, attaining about 100 mpg
and for most days not using any gas.
- We plan on upgrading to a hybrid SUV or all Electric SUV
within the next two years.
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