October Green Tidings

Happy Halloween! We hope you enjoy the holiday with your favorite little ghosts, goblins and ghouls.

But did you know that a pack of unwanted vampires might be inhabiting your house? According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory up to 10% of residential energy consumption is due to "vampire loads." Cell phone chargers, clocks on microwave ovens, instant-on TVs and other "wall wart" gadgets constantly suck power for no good reason.

This may not seem frightening until you consider how many coal and nuclear power plants operate day and night to satisfy our wall warts' demands. Now that's a scary thought. Read on for ways you can make these vampires vanish.

Spookily,
Fred Horch, Founder

Affordable Zero Energy Homes

Join us for "Affordable Zero Energy Homes: We Can Get There From Here", our next Sustainable Living Talk from 7:00 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, November 8th.

Mike White of Island Carpentry will give a talk titled "Affordable Zero Energy Homes: We Can Get There From Here," on Thursday, Nov. 8th, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. The talk is free and open to the public.

"Household energy consumption is one of the major contributors to global warming. We need to change the way we build," says Mike, owner of Island Carpentry. "The technology to build energy efficient sustainable homes is available today."

Discussion topics will include methods of super insulating and air sealing, controlling air exchange, passive solar design, and the introduction of renewable energy systems. Attendees will be encouraged to share knowledge and experience.

Free informational handouts will be provided. Seating is limited, so if you are interested in attending we encourage you to call the store at 729-4050 to reserve a seat.

The talk is part of the F.W. Horch series on sustainable living. Each monthly talk is held at the F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies store, 56 Maine Street, Brunswick at 7:00 pm on the second Thursday of the month. December's talk will feature Danuta Drozdowicz of Fore Solutions, speaking on the topic of LEED certification.

News from Energyworks

Jen Hatch of Energyworks South writes,

Thank you for all of those for participated in this year's Green Buildings Open House. We had 12 homes on our portion of the tour, and many of the homes were busy all day with folks inquiring about solar installations. The weather was beautiful and the tour a success. We hope to have an even bigger turnout for next year, the Green Buildings Open House falls annually on Columbus Day Weekend.

We recently did our first installation over state lines, in New Hampshire. Not only did we have the opportunity to do work in New Hampshire, we also made it into the homeowner’s blog! Check out the installation work we did at the Eiermann/Simone residents in North Conway, New Hampshire. You can view it online at http://www.daveeiermann.com.

Finally, Energyworks worked this summer with schools to apply for a renewable energy demonstrative grant, and we are proud to say that we will be installing photovoltaics systems onto three local schools, Lincoln Middle School in Portland, Yarmouth High School and Gray New Gloucester High School. As these are demonstrative projects, educational components will be incorporated into the system that will read the output of the PV panels, allowing the students and community to see how a renewable energy system works, and the benefits it adds to the environment. We will keep you posted as the projects unfold.

As always, you can contact us at www.energyworksllc.com, or 221-6342 to learn more about how a renewable energy system may integrate into your home design needs.

Product News

"Vampire loads" are electrical draws that occur when appliances are turned off but still plugged in. You can check to see whether and how much your appliances are using with a neat device called a Kill A Watt, available for rental or sale at our store. This is a fun gadget for anyone interested in saving energy. Once you know which devices are drawing energy even when "off", then you can put them on an outlet switch or remember to unplug them! Also, if you are debating whether to replace an old refrigerator or other large appliance, measuring its electricity consumption with a Kill A Watt can help you figure out how much energy you could save with a newer model.

LED holiday lights are on order and will be arriving next week. We will have both colored strands and warm white. If you've been put off by the bluish tint to other LED holiday lights on the market, please come by to compare ours! The nice warm white LEDs are hard to find--and we've got them coming. Compared to incandescent holiday lights, LEDs last 50 times as long (100,000 hours), use 90% less energy, don't create a fire hazard and are much more rugged. All in all, a great energy-saving product.

We have the best drying racks made in Maine. Ours are big, solid and easy to fold up. Unlike the cheap Chinese-made imports, these racks are made to last a lifetime and come with a quality guarantee.

Hardwood BioBricks are available now in our store for $10 a bag of twenty. These are compressed sawdust bricks (without any binders) that burn hotter, cleaner and longer than cordwood. Home delivery service by the pallet is also available. Customers who use BioBricks love the fact that they arrive clean and ready to burn. No more wondering whether your cordwood is delivered wet or full of bugs!

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene

Smart Energy Expo will be on Sunday, November 4, from noon until 5 pm at Marshwood High School, S. Berwick, Maine. This FREE event will feature workshops, films, and exhibits on renewable energy and related issues. For more information call Maine Partners for Cool Communities at 761-5616 or visit www.CoolMaine.org

The Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber’s Go Green Expo will be on Saturday, November 10, from 10 am until 4 pm at Mt. Ararat High School Gymnasium, Rt. #201, Topsham, Maine. This FREE event will feature workshops, test drives of electric hybrid cars, fun for the kids (including a worm composting demonstration by me in the morning), and give aways. For more information call the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber at 725-8797 or visit www.midcoastmaine.com

ecomaine's Green Expo, "the layperson's expo for going green at home and business," will be on Thursday, November 15, from 11 am until 6 pm at Sullivan Gym, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine. This event will feature seminars (including one by me at 1:45 pm on "becoming a zero waste household") and more than 60 exhibitors. For more information call Green Tree Event Consultants at 781-2982 or visit www.MaineGreenExpo.com

Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick is holding a brown-bag lunch discussion of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change as part of its Cornerstones of Science series. Faciliated discussions with faculty from Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, USM and the US Army Corps of Engineers will take place in the Morrell Meeting Room on Wednesdays from 12:15 to 1:15 pm until November 14. For more information call 725-5242.

Save the date of Friday, December 7 for the next Brunswick Sustainability Group film showing at 8 pm in the 11 Pleasant Street Arts Center in Brunswick. This is a FREE event and the public is welcome. For more information, visit www.BrunswickSustainability.org.

About this Newsletter
This newsletter is free.

Archives are available online at http://fwhorch.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading!

Fred Horch, Founder

Special Edition Green Tidings

This is a special edition of our Green Tidings featuring more information about events that didn't make it into our September edition.

Fred Horch, Founder

National Solar Home Tour

Two local houses will be featured in the National Solar Home Tour on Saturday, October 6th from 9 am to 5 pm:

Owner:       Guy Marsden, Rebekah Younger
Address:     61 Delano Road, Woolwich, ME 04579
Phone:       207-443-8942
Description: Woodworker in solar heated barn workshop where solar powered
            attic fan helps reduce summer heat. Domestic hot water also
            from solar. Solar powered lawn mower conversion, Staber washing
            machine, hybrid car, & many energy saving devices. A family
            inspired by simple living and sustainability.
Directions:  From Rt. 1 in Woolwich take Rt. 127 north.  Go 4-1/2 miles, turn R
            onto Old Stage Rd, then 1/2 mile & turn R on Delano Rd, & #61 is
            660 ft on R.

Owner:       Al Heath, Suzanne Paule
Address:     37 Stonetree Rd, Arrowsic, ME 04530
Phone:       207-443-6614
Description: Owner designed and built for $75/sqft, this 2000 square foot home
            features passive solar design and superinsulated techniques to heat
            easily and comfortably with only 1.5 cords of wood and 75 gallons of
            kerosene. An active solar hot water system provides 75% of domestic
            hot water with plans to expand collectors and storage to provide
            radiant space heat. Our goal is to provide 75% of all home heating
            needs (hot water and space heat) with solar.
Directions:  Take Rt. 127 south from Woolwich towards Georgetown/Reid State Park.
            One mile south of Rt 1 look for Stonetree Rd on right. Turn in,
            1st house on the right, #37.

For more information about the tour, see the Maine Solar Energy Association.

Energy Savings: The Real Payback and Incentives

Join us for "Energy Savings: The Real Payback and Incentives", our next Sustainable Living Talk from 7:00 to 8:30 pm on Thursday, October 11th.

WydeVue's Stephen Carr will help you understand the various programs related to home energy savings. When you decide to buy a vehicle, you need to know all your options and package deals the dealership can offer you. The same applies to energy savings.

Knowing where to look for the information is the most challenging. What are the different programs related to energy savings? How do they affect the monetary payback and what are the incentives that coincide with the programs? WydeVue Residential Energy Services is looking forward to answering those questions for you.

Stephen will also be talking about HERS Ratings and how that relates to Energy Star Homes, Energy Efficient Mortgages, LEED Home energy qualifications, etc.

Free informational handouts will be provided. Seating is limited, so if you are interested in attending please reply via email or call the store at 729-4050 to reserve a seat.

Our Sustainable Living Talks are on the second Thursday of each month at 56 Maine Street in Brunswick. November's talk will feature Mike White of Island Carpentry, speaking on the topic of zero energy homes.

Green Chemistry Symposium

On Friday, October 26th, from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Hannaford Lecture Hall in the Abromson Community Education Center at the University of Southern Maine, Portland Campus, investors, sustainable business leaders, cutting-edge researchers and policy makers will explore "Green Chemistry" solutions that expand our economy by replacing hazardous materials in consumer products with safer alternatives.

For on-line registration and other information visit www.MaineGreenChemistry.com

Brunswick Cool Community Party

The evening of Friday, October 26th is time for a Cool Communities celebration in Brunswick! Earlier this year, the Brunswick Town Council unanimously voted to make Brunswick a Cool Community. This party is a chance to recognize and thank the people that made that possible.

The party will be at 8pm in the 11 Pleasant St. Arts Center, the same location at which the Brunswick Sustainability Group has meetings and film showings. We'll have a dessert potluck, coffee and other drinks, an also great music (thanks to Jim Tolles). This will be a great occassion where citizens and candidates for town office can mingle and discuss a greener future for Brunswick and other towns pushing to pass the Cool Communities agreement.

For more information about the Brunswick Sustainability Group, which is hosting the party, visit www.BrunswickSustainability.org