I’m not sure how fair it is that we keep blaming the Americans for global warming, gas guzzling and other naughty eco sins beginning with ‘g’. Have a look at this YouTube video. Mike Tidwell takes us on a 20 minute tour of his eco-home. He powers almost his entire house by renewable sources – solar panels on the roof and a corn burning stove for heating. Corn?! He’s got to be some country redneck living in the middle of Timbuktu? Well, he lives in Maryland in what looks like a built up area, but got a corn farm to set up a 20 tonne silo for free by offering them free advertising. The silo provides a community supply of corn, and his stove is electronically controlled. Also check out his retro electricity metre that runs backwards.
He claims to have made all of these changes for $1 a day using state grants and tax cuts on eco-friendly appliances. It’s a bit of an inspiration and makes us Brits look a little daft and old-fashioned, although I’m sure we could pull off something like this ourselves.
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I wouldn't go giving the whole country a pass just because of this. Great effort on his part, but he (like I) live in a state where the environment matters to us, and he lives in a city that has been concerned about the environment for decades. So please, keep mocking the rest of us until we all do our part.