NationStates Jolt Archive

You may or may not know that I'm a big fan of alternative energy. I have a geothermal heating system in my house, and for power I run a blend of solar and wind power to compliment my regular electrical energy. I am considering building a house from straw bales sealed in cement. I am crazy for green, because it's just CHEAPER...that and I can sleep at night.

However, my parents have a theory. They are particularly paranoid, but they tend to predict these things pretty well. They think that people should hurry up and get in their green power NOW, before the government starts taking a bite out of it. How? Well hey, whoever thought they'd charge you for water coming out of the ground!

My dad figures they'll attach a metre to your geothermal sink, and measure how many units of heat you are using, then charge you for it. Despite the fact that they are not producing it. Nonetheless, you do not own what is below your land...the government has subsurface rights, so it is possible. People that already have the system set up before these fees come into play will be 'grandfathered' in, much as acreges using well water are even after they are absorbed into a city or town...until that property is sold, the owners don't pay for the water.

Ideas? Thoughts? Speculations? I'll be back tomorrow to read them!

Until then,
Chau!

it wont be a fee, it will be a TAX
while the government doesnt own our energy companies NOW i can imagine that they will at least put a tax on geothermal, wind, sunshine, self generated hydrogen.

there are no guarantees but death and taxes eh?

Just curious, how exactly would a home geothermal heating system work...?

Outside of alternative automobile fuel sources I don't know much about alternate energy sources....

You may or may not know that I'm a big fan of alternative energy. I have a geothermal heating system in my house, and for power I run a blend of solar and wind power to compliment my regular electrical energy. I am considering building a house from straw bales sealed in cement. I am crazy for green, because it's just CHEAPER...that and I can sleep at night.

However, my parents have a theory. They are particularly paranoid, but they tend to predict these things pretty well. They think that people should hurry up and get in their green power NOW, before the government starts taking a bite out of it. How? Well hey, whoever thought they'd charge you for water coming out of the ground!

My dad figures they'll attach a metre to your geothermal sink, and measure how many units of heat you are using, then charge you for it. Despite the fact that they are not producing it. Nonetheless, you do not own what is below your land...the government has subsurface rights, so it is possible. People that already have the system set up before these fees come into play will be 'grandfathered' in, much as acreges using well water are even after they are absorbed into a city or town...until that property is sold, the owners don't pay for the water.

Ideas? Thoughts? Speculations? I'll be back tomorrow to read them!

Until then,
Chau!
the government charging you? hah! in the UK that'd be poorly run and overcharging national companies (of which there would be two, maybe three and they'd all be the fuckin same). if it were the govt maybe it could protect the interests of the consumer a bit...

anyway, i'd love to do what you have done, and to do what you plan to do (or similar; i'd actually like to live in a house underground). is it expensive at all? i have heard that solar cells (for electrisity, as opposed to solar panels for heating water) are an expensive investment. Plus being a student i do not yet own a house or sufficient funds to do diddly-squat about this desire. interestingly, my parents have been barking up this tree for years but have never pursued it :(

Until then,
Chau!
You mean...chao?

You can be one of those people who buys an old diesel powered car and powers it with vegtable oil. You can fuel it with old cooking oil from restaurants. If you drive down the street with taco bell grease in the tank the whole street smells like tacos, if you use burger king the street smells like fries. It helps the planet and is super obnoxious.

In New Zealand, if you have a wet-back system (heat from the wood-stove or fireplace is used to heat your water), the power companies charge you extra for the power you do buy off them.
For some reason they're allowed to get away with this.
Bastards.

You mean...chao?
Actually, it's 'ciao' :p

Actually, it's 'ciao' :p
Aww, I was hoping that it wasn't spelled differently in Italian than Spanish...

Aww, I was hoping that it wasn't spelled differently in Italian than Spanish...
It's funny, if you use babel fish (spanish to english) and put in chao, you get ciao. :confused:

I don't think it will happen. We are not charged for well water. So solar and whatever other will probably never be charged either.

there are no guarantees but death and taxes eh?

But at least death doesn't get worse every time Conress meets.

I am also an Alt. energy/Green freak. I can see them finding a way to get their cut. At least once your property was inside a city limits. Here the municipal water company charges you for rainfall. They tally it by how much acreage you have, since they pipe away the runoff. But they charge you even if you have a catch system and don't have much runoff.

I am planning an all Green home from the ground up. Currently, I am working out better thermodynamics for the ventilation systems. Working with the natural flows of the air will help lower costs on forcefully moving it. That way you can also have a floor plan that has rooms with no "cold spots". :D

One solution is to have your Power Company regulated to allow Net metering. Where the power you produce is pumped into the public grid and then you pull what you need. In some successful systems they are a straight kwh per kwh swap. Although the Co. will argue that they want to "pay" you less for your energy than they charge you for theirs. This is better for you since then you do not have to maintain expensive batteries.

My dream is to eventually have fuel cells running on hydrogen that is split from water via my own wind and solar energy.
Self contained, Closed system

Bravo to you alt-energy users :D

Something I'd love to do if I got the cash.

Anyhoo. To touch on why you can't be charged for alternative energy (at least from what I see) the energy sources themselves are "as-is". You pay a fee for water because that water is collected, cleaned and supplied back to you by the companies that manage it.

Wind generators and solar panels? Set them up, watch them go!

Your straw-filled walls I also can't see a problem with, provided they do not pose a fire-risk, and meet the demanded level of structural integrity.

Underground systems (the sink you mentioned?) I can't see being tapped. While you may not hold the rights to what's underneath your property (a rather silly idea in itself) so long as it's well constructed, it poses no risk to others and does not blight the landscape. It also wouldn't make itself apparent to anyone other than those who know about it. And the levels of intrusion that would be required to prove it was an alternative energy source rather than a cellar or storm shelter would be rather large.

I guess it all depends on the people you vote into power :)

When it comes to charging more if you use a dual system (power company energy + your own), I'm not exactly sure how they'd monitor that. AFAIK, energy is provided to you on demand, and you pay according to how much you take from the system (unless you have a flat fee system). If you connect a secondary source to your house's electrical system, wouldn't the only sign be that the amount you were taking from the power companies was dropping?

As for Xochitao's municpal water company... man, that's screwed up right there. But, I guess if they use the runoff in the overall system...