<p>It was very simple, allmusic, because it seemed so high at the time of that previous discussion. I understand the issue with older homes in New England, though. This is an expensive place to live, in every way. </p>
<p>Simba, you apparently live in Texas. Does your $180 a month include all electricity, natural gas and any other energy source, like propane? As I mentioned, everything – all appliances, heating & A/C forced air unit, hot water heater – is electric. We also use oil for heating, which is included in that $400.</p>
<p>Where we live, there are about 195 heating days per year, based on census data. We have about 1 week of spring, it seems. This morning it was 46 degrees as I drove my son to school. Even I turn the heat on at that temperature. Yet it was in the high 80’s and humid a few days ago, with severe thunder storms and a tornado watch. So we turned on the A/C for a couple of hours to cool the house down enough to sleep. Given where we live, our utility bills are among the lowest of anyone I know.</p>
<p>I don’t see how someone dumping energy into an inefficient home can bash others they believe are dumping energy into inefficient vehicles (although that conclusion is frequently incorrect).</p>
<p>Oh, and my car gets worse mileage than my SUV. If people want to be more accurate rather than using rash generalizations they should bash “fuel-inefficient vehicles” rather than “SUVs”. The generalization that all SUVs get awful mileage and all cars great mileage isn’t correct.</p>
<p>My home is inefficient, but we can’t afford to move to a more efficient home, unless we left the area. Not an option.</p>
<p>If someone has an old inefficient car, and can’t afford a new one, that is a better analogy. That is very different that the choice to buy new and BIG.</p>
<p>And I, for one, never said all SUVs get awful mileage. In fact, several pages back, I made this very point.</p>
<p>Yes I have all electric. Except gas water heater and furnace. You have 195 days of winter we have 195 days of summer. During the peak season I have friends whose electric bill is more than twice ours. I don’t know what they do.</p>
<p>We keep water heater temperature bit above the shower temperature (we never take baths). It takes a while to get the hot water through the pipes though. I know many of my firends keep it very high because they want almost instant response.</p>
<p>If I add my water bill it would be about 210/mo.</p>
<p>We averaged 1500 KWH per month over the last year. Last month it was 1335 KWH and the cost was $225, or $.17 per KWH. I’m sure the rates vary by region. </p>
<p>The main issue for me is all the assumptions that have been made on this thread about people who drive SUVs. Earlier I posted a few comments by FireBadTreePretty that presented a pretty warped attitude. So, I have a question. What if Berurah (I hope you don’t mind me using you as an example!!!) is out by herself in the suburban. Does she have to post a sign in the window that says “Mother of six, although currently driving by myself?” Would any of you otherwise assume that she is selfishly using up valuable resources to satisfy her ego? That’s what’s been implied here.</p>
<p>Allmusic, if I lived near a T stop, I’d probably never drive anywhere but the grocery store. But out here, beyond the 128 beltway, there is no public transportation, except into Boston. The roads take days to be cleared after a snowstorm – some of which were 3 feet last year. Without a reliable 4WD vehicle, I couldn’t get to the grocery store or get my son to school.</p>
<p>So here’s where the live and let live part comes in. Let’s try not to make too many assumptions about people’s character based on their cars, SUVs, electric bills or housing costs. That just seems like decent behavior to me. The alternative seems to be to live in some kind of Orwellian nightmare, where Big Brother dictates where you live, what you drive and how you think. I like my idea better.</p>
<p>For a household of 2, we use an average of about 1300 kilowatt hours a month of electricity and 4 cubic feet of gas. (Only the stove is gas). This is because SO is homebound for health reasons, so we have to have heat, AC, light, during the day. Before that, it averaged about 1100 KWH a month. No water bill, but it does take electricity to run the water well pump.</p>
<p>It used to be much better. When I lost all the trees that were shading the house, especially the big water oak, the bill jumped up about 200 KWH a month in the spring and summer. </p>
<p>I’m going to try to replace my 15+ year old refrigerator to see if that helps.</p>
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<p>My bill is 10.5 cents per KWH. The folks on the electric co-op a mile or so up the road pay about 15 cents.</p>
<p>My in-laws were famous for carrying on about the shade trees – they swore it kept their house 10 degrees cooler. As far as the refrigerator is concerned, I think you’d see significant improvement if you replaced it with an energy star appliance. I’ve read that refrigerators are one of the biggest users of energy in a home.</p>
<p>I live in southern California where I use little energy on my home thanks to about the most temperate climate in the country. I wonder if this counts like “carbon credits” for me to drive a 25mpg SUV.</p>
<p>It wasn’t much to look at and it wasn’t very comfortable, but I loved my six cylinder Corsica. </p>
<p>I drove 165,000 miles on about $1500 in repairs (couple of alternators, a radiator, and a starter). And it wasn’t a new car when I got it. I got about 32 MPG on the highway, which is all I drive. My (very used) Camry is a better vehicle by almost any assessment, gets as good mileage, but somehow I just can’t get attached to it the same way.</p>
<p>EK, I don’t know if anyone mentioned it yet (I skipped a couple of pages), but there’s a very inexpensive plastic thing you can mount in the back window that increases your visibility a lot. Lets you see things all the way to the ground. I don’t know what it’s called, but they should have it at the major auto parts stores. (Let’s just say that googling “backup” and “windows” doesn’t bring up anything related to cars).</p>
<p>When I drove a big van, I found that the larger-sized round mirrors you stick on to your sideview mirror helped alot. They also make bigger rearview mirrors. There’s even one that has three mirrors set in it at different angles. It takes some adjustment, but once you’re used to it, it really helps.</p>
Allmusic:
I’m not really trying to give you a hard time. I was just saying that being judgmental opens one up to others being judgmental of them. I don’t care what kind of house you live in but to be realistic, you no doubt know that you’re dumping a lot of energy in your house and I think you’re likely living in your house by choice. If you bought it, why did you buy it given that it’s energy-inefficient (ala one buying a guzzling SUV). If you rent, why not rent an efficient abode (ala selling the SUV for an efficient car)? And no one really ‘needs’ a 2200 sq ft house (ala the ‘bigger’ SUV).</p>
<p>Again, it doesn’t matter to me what house you live in. I’m sure you had what you thought were good reasons for choosing it. But, I think the analogy is quite good actually. It’s just a matter of where one chooses to be judgmental.</p>
<p>uudad, I know that the MDX has bumper compatibility. But, most people I know don’t really consider that car an “SUV” - they consider it more of a “crossover vehicle”. </p>
<p>SUV’s are a danger to standard vehicles, and everyone within them, due to the misalignment of bumpers.</p>
<p>We have the trees, have all Energy star appliances, all the low watt lightbulbs, have the attic insulated…</p>
<p>I know you aren’t giving me a hard time, UCSD dad. OTOH, perhaps you haven’t tried to buy or sell a house in my area lately…electric (it’s deregulated in MA you know) has nearly doubled in KWH price in the time that we have lived in this house. So it wasn’t necessarily an inefficient house when we bought it, although it is now.</p>
<p>No sob story, since we like our inefficient house, even with our massive bill. But I sure wouldn’t buy an inefficient house, if I were in the market for one. That’s the difference between being financially saddled with the inefficient house or car, versus choosing to buy it new.</p>
<p>But now we’re talking in circles, so I will leave this conversation, and apologize to anyone who felt I was being judgemental. I just hate those damn big cars, and that’s my personal feeling, but I don’t mean for it to be an indictment on your choices.</p>
<p>I think most people would actually call an MDX an SUV. It looks like one and largely acts like one albeit it doesn’t have a low range 4wd mode so it couldn’t handle tough trails. Acura calls it one as do most auto magazines.</p>
<p>This is the problem with the term “SUV”. What is an SUV? There are now some new terms - “SAV” (BMW coined this one) and “Crossover”. Would you consider a pickup truck an ‘SUV’? There are 4wd ‘SUVs’ and 2wd ‘SUVs’. There are SUVs with poor mileage and SUVs with decent mileage. There are big ones and small ones. </p>
<p>The problem is that those opposed to ‘SUVs’ tend to lump them all together and I’m convinced always have an image of an H1 Hummer in their head (even though very few people actually own those) rather than an Escape hybrid or Lexus Hybrid.</p>
<p>I love my Lexus RX 330, my turning 50 splurge a few years ago. Got rid of my Volvo 850 wagon (was never excited about it), couldn’t find a station wagon I liked (don’t like the newer Volvos and wanted a luxury vehicle with good reliability sold close to home) to haul and carry stuff. The car chassis makes a big difference in gas mileage and ride; I have heard that the hybrid Lexus RX that just came out doesn’t really get that much better gas mileage, besides, my car is just “broken in”, still under warranty… and good in winter. I also like the height, easy to load/unload the back. Never had enough people to justify a minivan. I think people have to realize Sports Utility Vehicle doesn’t mean truck or off road vehicle, times have changed. Why anyone should be allowed to buy a Hummer is beyond me…</p>
We don’t yet live in a country where the government tells us what vehicles we may or may not purchase. I don’t see the point in sports cars that can go 200 mph – not a lot of places to drive fast where I live. Yet someone else may simply want that vehicle and be willing to spend the money.</p>
<p>I would never buy a Hummer or Suburban – they wouldn’t fit easily in the garage of my New England Colonial. But it’s not my role to tell someone else that they can’t buy it. In any case, the government can dictate fuel efficiency requirements, safety requirements etc. But if someone can design a Hummer that meets those requirements, then someone else can buy it.</p>
<p>The point is that people are free to buy whatever vehicle they choose – if someone doesn’t want an SUV of any kind, then here’s my advice. DON’T BUY ONE!</p>
<p>I have said the same thing (if you don’t like it, don’t have one) about gay marriage or abortion, and people feel the need to have government legislation on those matters!!!</p>
<p>Even people who take a libertarian or government hands-off view on certain issues, rarely are consistent across all issues that affect a society (and Hummers most certainly do affect a society).</p>