President Bush’s Texas Ranch Is Off-Grid, Eco-Friendly

19
by Michael dEstries February 19, 2007
Categories: Home.

snipshot_b2gi38700fv.jpgWould the real George W. Bush please stand up? On one hand, we have a President with a terrible environmental record, oil ties, etc. On the other, we have a President with a sustainable home that’s off-grid, features geothermal cooling and heating, passive solar, and a grey water system. Whoa? How do you go from installing such features and benefiting from them but not at all pushing them into the mainstream? Does Bush know something we don’t? Is he prepared while the rest of us are doomed?

Probably not. In fact, I’m going to bet it was not Bush who designated these eco-friendly additions but rather an architect. Such a person probably took note of the landscape and climate and designed a system that could efficiently survive drought and heat; without depending on electricity or fuel. From a security point of view, having a contained system also make sense. You’re not dependent on anyone for resources but yourself. Here’s a great snippet from the article,

“Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into purifying tanks underground — one tank for water from showers and bathroom sinks, which is so-called “gray water,” and one tank for “black water” from the kitchen sink and toilets. The purified water is funneled to the cistern with the rainwater. It is used to irrigate flower gardens, newly planted trees and a larger flower and herb garden behind the two-bedroom guesthouse. Water for the house comes from a well. The Bushes installed a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and air-conditioning systems consume. Several holes were drilled 300 feet deep, where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees.” Even portions of the home are made from waste materials from a local quarry!

So, while Bush may “walk the walk” at home, he certainly has no agenda to let the rest of us benefit from the same technology. The irony is so great, that I feel the need to link to a certain Will Ferrell video that’s been viewed to death online. Hit the article for more insight into Bush’s green ranch.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • http://www.thumbwarz.com Kyle J

    Man, I don’t know what to feel anymore! i want to hate the place, but that’s sort of tipping the scales. voice your opinion on the matter.

  • mcg

    So, while Bush may “walk the walk” at home, he certainly has no agenda to let the rest of us benefit from the same technology.

    Why do you need permission from him to benefit from this technology? He certainly isn’t stopping you, is he?

  • http://www.ecorazzi.com michael

    No, he’s not stopping me. But he’s certainly making it more difficult by not supporting renewable energy initiatives, that push development, that result in goods and services, that encourage education, that create more demand, that drop the price and speed up adoption.

    So yea, as the world’s most powerful man, it would be great to see a little of this Ranch’s technology in his polices. Alas.

  • Pingback: Bush a closet hippy? :: Two Hands Blog

  • Pingback: Offbeat Homes » An Inconvenient Green Home

  • Bob

    I can’t wait for you to rail on Al Gore for his mansions…

    Gore and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.)

    According to the Nashville Electric Service (NES) his Nashville home consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year.

  • Ian

    I’m going to bet it was not Bush who designated these eco-friendly additions but rather an architect. Such a person probably took note of the landscape and climate and designed a system that could efficiently survive drought and heat; without depending on electricity or fuel

    Well, yes, that’s what architects *do*. Had it not occurred to you that the person who hires the architect generally has major input and decision power over the final design (that would be that president guy)? It’s not like it was accidentally designed like that. It looks like it was a simple matter of economics – When your energy bills are lower, that’s more dosh in your pocket.

    Obviously Gore has more money than brains, because otherwise he would have hired an architect to design his place to be “green” as well. Such a typical situation, though, and I see it from celebrity environmentalists all the time – preaching until they’re blue in the face about how the rest of us” need to be more environmentally conscious, just so long as those same celebrities don’t actually have to affect their own lifestyle. It’s almost like they’re saying “please reduce your energy usage so I don’t have to”.

  • Bob

    Ian I hear ya, no controlling legal authority comes to mind…

  • Deb

    As a conservative, President Bush is more concerned with empowering and encouraging and modeling appropriate behavior, along with reducing our personal tax burdens, rather than in endlessly regulating and dictating people’s choices.

  • Eric

    It’s simple really some people tell others how to live some people lead by example. Did Al Gore really think nobody would find out about his hypocrisy? To think someone this naive could’ve been President. Why didn’t he have his homes re-designed or implement simple green systems to “show off” to his friends in the Media. He gets his platform and blows his opportunities. The true environmentalist should be livid with Al Gore, not defending him. Where is their outrage. If they really want to change the world they got to work harder than this.

  • Nina Frazier

    I had a doctor once who weighed at least 350 pounds. He told me and all his patients that it was very unhealthy and that they should not be like he overweight. He encouraged weight loss for good health. He died at age 59. He was not wrong simply because he didn’t practice what he preached. To argue against what Al Gore is preaching, you should argue against his scientific facts not what he personally does. Hopefully Al Gore will begin to live environmentally too.

  • Pingback: ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip » Blog Archive » 41st President, George H. W. Bush, Is Full Of Hot Air

  • John

    What exactly did Clinton and Gore do while in office to support such sustainable tech and the environment that Bush is not doing? Not much more.(http://www-tech.mit.edu/V117/N28/hove.28o.html) And don’t talk to me about Clinton and the Kyoto Protocal. He signed it as a feel good measure. He did not submit it to Congress because he knew damn well that it would not be ratified.
    No wonder Bush hasn’t talked about the design of his ranch. If it was designed like Al Gore’s mansions, many liberals would say, “He’s a typical wasteful Republican.” He had an eco-friendly house built and you all say, “He’s a hypocrite.”
    Did it occur to you all that maybe he wants the public to make their own decisions and not have a bunch of government bureaucrats hectoring them or micromanaging their lives?
    I am a black Republican who wishes to convert to Orthodox Judaism. I am also a vegetarian but unlike PETA I don’t nag everyone I meet about the evils of meat eating. Because of my personal and religious beliefs, I don’t agree with hunting. But I don’t think that hunters are evil and I don’t want hunting outlawed.
    Liberals find evangelical Christianity offensive. But they promote causes such as environmentalism and vegetarianism with the same evangelical zeal that rivals many Christians who are overly agressive in spreading the word of Christ.
    I guess for some it is inconceivable that someone would have an eco-friendly home and not try to convince the world to live as they do.

  • http://go-offgrid.blogspot.com offgrid

    That’s good news for a change !

  • Stephen Hammell

    bush has solar house. big deal. does bush have clue as to how significant this could have been if bush had endorsed post-9/11 manhattan project to develop renewable energy sources in america? No! bush not cerebral. just small clown taking orders from bigger oil clowns.

  • Daisy

    It’s a free country. Make yourself green in the face if you want to. Bush is not ‘supporting’ environmental ‘incentives’ because Bush believes in free choice. So do I. In the time it takes to be paranoid of our President, ask yourselves why the heck your St. Goracle lives in environmental squalor? Answer? Conservatives conserve .. always have and always will. Liberals, on the other hand, get off on regulating how everyone else (but themselves) should live.

  • Mark

    Bush has an off-grid house because he knows that we will be running out of oil within his lifetime.

  • Frank Halbritter

    I like coming to Texas. Have you a Room for two? Let`s go Prasident. This letter com from Plauen, East – Germany.

    Frank Halbritter
    Hölderlinstr. 15

    D – 08525 Plauen

  • Jay Charles

    Is the floorplan of Pres. Bush’s ranch house published online anywhere?

« PREVIOUS POST
NEXT POST »