I recently got a call from someone who is building a new house and wanted to know what kinds of things they should consider to be as self-sustainable and as fossil fuel free as possible.
This was the third person I’ve talked to in the last couple of weeks so I thought it was a good topic for a blog post. Also, I’m hopeful that this means the economy is starting to turn around and people are finding the money to invest in their homes.
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IT is energy efficient and can save you money. It is a good investment and can help the environment. It leads to less dependence on foreign oil and provides self-sustainability.
IT is renewable energy — solar, wind, water, or the earth’s warmth.
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In my local paper the other day there was a story about a guy that burns coal for heating his home in NH. It was an interesting story for two reasons: 1) because not many people burn coal in New England and 2) because he was told (or was under the impression) that he was burning “clean coal”.
The implication was that his coal stove was not as polluting as the next guy’s. More importantly, the price of coal today is low enough that he was saving money by burning coal over his oil backup furnace.
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Green Living
Green Living Journal published the story I wrote entitled “One Woman’s Journey to a Zero Energy Building”. I like how they advertised it on the cover (My Zero Net Energy Home) and put it out in Left Field 
Click here if you would like to read it. I added some pictures in the blog post version. They didn’t have room for many pictures in the journal.
This year’s mild winter has really made me think about the future of the ski industry in New England. Warm temperatures and lack of natural snowfall are threatening to shorten a season already slowed by the poor economy. Most mountains like to stay open as late into April as they can however just making it into early March this year will be a challenge. With snow making to stop at most mountains after next week you might want to get your spring skiing in sooner than later.
Garden Harvest
But… it is pretty cool to make a whole salad for dinner with fresh greens from the garden. I’ve been giving away cucumbers as quickly as I can. Kent is going to try making pickles. My sister Wendy made a great ragout last weekend that included basil, thyme, and parsley from the garden. And I’ve been eating Romain and some of the mesclun and cucumbers in my sandwiches and salads.
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