Monday Reading 04-28-2008

227+ Comments and Counting – The Commission Based Fee Structure – It’s Bad for Buyers.

Darren the Problogger speed-posted in response to Twitter questions and left readers with a wealth of information

EcoTech Daily’s Daily Five – Jetson Green’s Sprawl Home Discounts, Big City LEED and Codes, + Future of Green Buildings is good knowledge

The unlucky .2% at the Foxfield Races (archived: 2008) – See some videos at cVillain (archived: 2008)

The Real Cost of Tackling Climate Change – hint: it’s more than you might think (it’s a cultural change more than anything else)

Today, the average residence in the U.S. uses about 10,500 kilowatt hours of electricity and emits 11.4 tons of CO2 per year (much more if you are Al Gore or John Edwards and live in a mansion). To stay within the magic number, average household emissions will have to fall to no more than 1.5 tons per year. In our current electricity infrastructure, this would mean using no more than about 2,500 KwH per year. This is not enough juice to run the average hot water heater.

You can forget refrigerators, microwaves, clothes dryers and flat screen TVs. Even a house tricked out with all the latest high-efficiency EnergyStar appliances and compact fluorescent lights won’t come close. The same daunting energy math applies to the industrial, commercial and transportation sectors as well. The clear implication is that we shall have to replace virtually the entire fossil fuel electricity infrastructure over the next four decades with CO2-free sources – a multitrillion dollar proposition, if it can be done at all.

In the Charlottesville region, there are currently 2,409 properties on the market – ~30% of these are vacant. Will crime follow (no longer available)?

That $600 “rebate”? That’s about one month of gas, thankyouverymuch.