More and more home owners today demand clean, safe home environments with minimum reliance upon monopolistic power and communications companies.  This paradigm shift has caused major changes in home design, construction and renovation.  The first step in achieving energy independence and minimized thermal demand is to make your house as "tight" as possible by eliminating air leaks and conductive heat losses.  Locally renewable energy sources such as sun, wind, geothermal, and wood can assure an inexpensive, uninterrupted energy supply.  Through careful planning and the exploitation of incentive funding, most houses can be built or retrofitted over several years in prioritized stages employing local talent and materials.  Paul Myers, Founder, Perfect House, December 2011

Photo Paul Myers' home - This is a very special home that is a great example of what can be done to achieve energy efficiency through using environmentally responsible materials.

There is a lot going on in our community, and we will do our best to highlight programs and presentations that will help area residents to learn about ways they can make their homes and places of work more energy efficient enabling us to become more energy independent.  Check the box on the left margin for news about important events.

• Money Pit Contest
• Living Green Expo
• Neighborworks - Heat Squad
• PACE
• Thermal Imaging
  

The Perfect House Committee - last presentation - “Fixing up a Money Pit” outlined the top 10 steps that should be taken when investing in efficiency upgrades. “The Vermont Energy Code” on April 19th will teach us everything there is to know about the code and the ways it affects any new building, addition, and renovation. On May 17th the series will start to focus on some of the critical components of a house starting with “The Building Envelope”, which alone is responsible for keeping the inside warm in winter, cool in summer and dry all year. 

Do you live in a money pit?  Do you want some help with it - with a lot of it at NO COST to you?  If you are the winner of this contest, you will receive the concerted efforts of the Perfect House Committee in helping you transform your home into a model of perfection for our community.  We will visit your home, complete a visual roof-to-basement energy assessment and then help you obtain funding.  We will widely publicize your upgrade work and your home will become a positive example of how a first class energy upgrade should be done.  Your active participation in the project would be required. 

To participate, you must be the owner of the home, live within 20 miles of downtown Manchester, be willing to participate in public aspects of the project, and agree to keep and share records of your home's energy performance through 2014.  Can you imagine what our community would be like if everyone did this?  That is precisely what we are trying to inspire with this contest. 

Click to download the application!

Mail it in by April 15th!  Everyone who completes this application wins!  We promise to schedule a visual energy assessment of your house, help you find funding and advise you through the upgrade work and subsequent house performance evaluation.  Call Paul Myers at 802-824-6626 with your questions.

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 Living Green Expo

There is going to be an event on May 12th that you must attend! The Living Green EXPO is designed to be given by the community, for the community and will have hands-on workshops, a plant swap, a community tag sale, a local food market, green games for kids, presentations, green vendors and clubs. There will be a different workshop and presentation every hour starting at 9AM and lasting until 4 PM. At most of the workshops, you will participate in the construction of useful objects, like a cold frame or bird house and walk away with a finished product, good enough to give as a Mother's Day gift. We have experts giving presentations on topics from beekeeping to solar, straw bale construction to kitchen garden design. There will be fun games and workshops for kids using recycled materials and highlighting good, clean, old-fashion fun.
 
Two events that separate this from others you may have attended in the past include the community tag sale and the free plant swap. If you are interested in giving someone else the opportunity to re-use something you no longer have a need for. Bring your clearly priced, gently used merchandise down to the Living Green Expo and get paid to recycle. Space is limited, so please be sure to register by filling out the attached form and send it to us soon. The plant swap gives you the opportunity for you to exchange plants that you have in excess for someone else's. Simply dig up a handful sized clump of any non-invasive perennial that you have, place it in a container, label it and bring it down to the swap where you can exchange it one-for-one with others!
 
The Living Green Expo will be held in the Vermont Renewable Fuels building on route 7 in East Dorset and all profits will be donated to local charities. Oh, did we mention the admission to the EXPO is FREE?
 
Please check out the website: www.LivingGreen-EXPO.org.

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The NeighborWorks H.E.A.T. Squad can help Bennington County homeowners save money on heating & electric bills. All Bennington County homeowners are eligible for a lower-priced Home Energy Check-Up (audit) to pinpoint all the areas in the home that allow heat and energy to escape—and waste your hard-earned money!

We work with certified Home Performance with ENERGY STAR professionals who recommend improvements to eliminate drafts and troublesome ice dams, check for health and safety issues, and improve indoor air quality--while saving the average homeowner an estimated $953 every year.

Check-Ups for Bennington County residents cost only $350 compared to the typical cost of $450 to $500. Income-eligible homeowners will pay no out-of- pocket expense for an Energy Check-Up. We will determine eligibility when you call us.   Read more

Call today to get started.

(802) 438-2303 x 227

http://heatsquad.org

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• Better Building by Design Conference - Jim Hand attended this conference, held on February 8, 2012,.  An impressive array of topics were covered. The keynote address covered the pros and cons of having the relative efficiency of a home be disclosed at real estate closings.  Talks explained the latest techonology and shared thermal and electric efficiency success stories.  By clicking HERE you will be taken to a page that lists all the topics and the names of the presenters.  Links to PDF copies of the presentation are included.  This is a tremendous resource.

• the vote on PACE and 
• Thermal Imaging
• Upper Valley Events - Lots of worthwhile events to consider in the month of March.
  

PACE - An important issue is being decided this March by the voters at the Dorset and Manchester town meetings.

Vote for PAGE at Dorset & Manchester Town Meeting

Click to read more about - PACE Fact Sheet and  Vote for PACE 

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The photo on the left illustrates how you can see the air leaks in you home.  Thermal imaging is integral to the energy audit process.There is no such thing as a perfect house!  The men and women who have been involved with the Perfect House meetings over the past two years are working together to gather information that will help area residents to make well-informed choices about ways that can retrofit existing homes and places of work or when building new structures. 

We highly recommend an energy audit.  Thermal imaging works when there is a significant difference in the interior and exterior air temperature.

This website will be regularly updated and will put the spotlight on new building products and techniques, people and organizations that are truly walking the talk and whose commitment to energy efficiency through their lifestyle choices stand out as an example for others to emulate.

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Upper Valley Events - There are a couple of great energy related events happening in the Upper Valley in the next two weeks.  Hope you can make them!

    "The Future of Alternative Energy in Vermont" - Monday, March 12th, 6:00pm-8:00pm
    "Seeking the Current" - Wednesday, March 14th, 7:00pm
    "Dirty Energy- From Fracking to Tarsands" - Wednesday March 21st, 6:30pm

And don't forget these two great events happening on Saturday March 31st as well!

    Local Energy Solutions Conference, 8:30am-4:15pm, Merrimack Valley High School, Penacook NH, For more info: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/les2012/
    Co-op Sustainability Expo, 11:00am-3pm, White River Elementary School, White River Junction, VT, For more info: http://www.coopfoodstore.coop/content/annual-meeting-and-expo-march-31

"The Future of Alternative Energy in Vermont"
Monday, March 12th, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Marion Cross School, Norwich, VT

Energy is pretty important to us -- heating and lighting our homes, getting us around, powering our businesses.  The energy choices we've made so far have had a big impact; the energy choices we're about to make will as well.

Come to an evening forum on "The Future of Alternative Energy in Vermont" to get some facts, hear about policy options, and share your thoughts.

The discussion features:
- our State Representative Margaret Cheney (and vice chair of the House energy committee);
- Jeff Wolfe, CEO, groSolar;
- David Blittersdorf, President/CEO, AllEarth Renewables; and
- Michael Dworkin, Vermont Law School Director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment.

There will be light refreshments.  The web invitation and RSVP is here.

The event is sponsored by the Vermont Democratic Party and contributions are, of course, welcome -- but not necessary.

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"Seeking the Current"
Wednesday March 14th, 7:00pm
Howe Library, Hanover NH

Environmental Documentary in Hanover.  Admission is Free.
This feature-length documentary provides a serious, unsparing look at Canadian power giant Hydro-Quebec and its development of large-scale hydroelectric power facilities.  "Seeking the Current" recounts the voyage of the filmmakers Boisclair and Alexis de Gheldere, who canoed the entire 500km course of the pristine Romaine River one year before Hydro-Quebec started construction on a new $8 billion complex of hydropower projects there.  Along the way, the filmmakers examine the history and economics of hydropower in Quebec and explore the renewable alternatives to new hydropower projects.  The link for more event information and the movie trailer is available at: www.clf.org/northern-pass/seeking-the-current/

Post-film discussion with filmmaker Nicolas Boisclair and Conservation Law Foundation Staff Attorney Christophe Courchesne.  Sponsored by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

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"Dirty Energy- From Fracking to TarSands"
Wednesday, March 21st, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Porter Community Room
Montshire Museum of Science
Norwich, VT
 
Vermont Law School professors Pat Parenteau and Jack Tuholske will discuss legal and environmental concerns related to shale gas hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and tar sands extraction, including the proposed Trailbreaker and Keystone pipelines, water pollution, impacts on climate change, Vermont legislation restricting fracking and the relationship of these dirty fuels to local efficiency and renewables efforts.
 
Pat Parenteau is Professor of Environmental Law at VLS and Senior Counsel for their Energy and Natural Resources Law Clinic. Former positions include Director of the Environmental Law Center at VLS, Commissioner of Vermont Department ofEnvironmental Quality and Regional Counsel with EPA Region One.
 
Jack Tuholske PhotoJack Tuholske is a private lawyer in Missoula, Montana, and serves as visiting adjunct professor both at VLS and at the University of Montana Law School. Jack specializes in public interest environmental litigation throughout the West and has been awarded the William O. Douglas and Kerry Rydberg Awards for his work on behalf of public interest groups.
 
This presentation is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be contributed by the Co-op Food Stores and the Upper Valley Food Co-op.
 
This forum is sponsored by the Thetford and Norwich Energy Committees, Catamount Earth Institute, League of Women Voters of the Upper Valley, Sierra Club, Co-op Food Stores, Upper Valley Food Co-op and Sustainable Energy Resource Group. For more information, please visit our website www.serg-info.org or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 802-785-4126.

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