Early Bird Sale

Join us Halloween morning for the annual Brunswick Early Bird sale.

6:30 - 7:30 20% off

7:30 - 8:30 15% off

8:30 - 9:30 10% off

Everything in the store is on sale.

(Sorry, no rainchecks or special orders.)

Happy Halloween!

Carbon Free Heating

October's Sustainable Living Tip

Instead of burning fossil fuel or wood, use "carbon free" solar energy and clean electricity to heat your home and protect our climate. Start by signing up for clean electricity. Aggressively set back your oil boiler's thermostat. Then stay toasty warm with electric or solar space heaters.

More Facts About "Carbon Free" Heating

1. Burning oil, propane, kerosene, natural gas or wood emits carbon dioxide gas into our atmosphere. Scientists believe that this pollution is accumulating and destabilizing our global climate.
2. You can switch your CMP or Bangor Hydro bill to "clean" electricity that is generated from hydropower dams or wind farms by signing up with Maine Renewable Energy in three easy steps online.
3. Clean electricity is generated from naturally-renewing energy sources without consuming any fuel or producing any air pollution.
4. Maine has abundant and inexhaustible supplies of clean power: water, waves, wind and sun. The more people who sign up for clean electricity, the more capital is available to harness these renewable sources. Paying for clean electricity is investing in the energy future of our state.
   
5. Once you have switched your electricity account to clean electricity, you can use electric heaters for comfort and safety without contributing to climate change, air pollution or resource depletion.
6. If you have an oil boiler, you can easily minimize the amount of heating oil you burn this winter by turning down your thermostat and using electric space heaters instead.
7. Heating with electricity does more to protect our climate and air quality than heating with wood. Burning wood, no matter how efficiently, pumps carbon dioxide and other pollutants into our atmosphere. Trees naturally capture carbon dioxide from the air and store carbon in their tissues; when you cut them down and burn them you release that carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
8. Allowing trees to grow allows them to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Until trees reach their maximum stature, they reduce the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere by storing carbon in their tissues. Trees "clean up" green house gases and help to stabilize our climate. A white oak, for example, can provide 200 years of "carbon cleaning" service if allowed to live its natural lifespan.
   
9. The best use of harvested wood, from the perspective of climate protection, is for furniture or buildings. This keeps the carbon "locked up." Burning wood or allowing it to rot releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
   
10. Whether you live with or without electricity, you can easily and safely heat your home and other buildings with a solar space heater.
11. Solar space heaters are direct air heaters that do not require plumbing or electricity.
12. Solar space heaters are much more affordable than solar domestic hot water systems or solar photovoltaic electric systems. A 1.5 kilowatt solar space heater costs about $2,000 and provides decades of reliable service with no fuel costs.
    
13. A solar space heater can be installed on a sunny southern-facing wall or roof.
14. Solar space heaters blow warm air into your building when the sun shines. A thermal mass, such as a brick interior wall, tile floor, or water barrels strategically placed, absorbs heat during sunny days and releases it at night.
15. Combining solar space heaters, electric space heaters, and good building practices permanently lowers heating costs. Switching fuels (for example, replacing "expensive" electric heat with "cheap" oil heat) only saves money temporarily while the relative price of the energy sources remains constant.
    
16. Eliminating combustion heat (i.e. anything that burns any type of fuel) allows homes to be more snug and safer.
17. Electric space heaters and solar space heaters do not require vents. They do not consume oxygen and do not produce carbon monoxide gas. They do not require the delivery or storage of fuel or wood.
18. You can minimize the risk of pipes freezing by replacing hydronic (water) baseboard heat with electric heat. In a typical hydronic baseboard heating system, pipes filled with water are located around the periphery of the building. If the power fails, the electric pumps used to circulate water through these pipes no longer work. If the temperature drops enough, the pipes burst as the water inside them freezes. Electric heaters are not filled with water. They can tolerate below-freezing temperatures without damage.
19. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, many all-electric homes were built. Unfortunately, many of these homes were not properly weatherized and insulated, so the owners incurred unnecessarily high heating bills. Proper weatherization and insulation can cut heating bills in half.
    
20. If the 80% of Mainers who burn #2 heating oil would switch their electricity accounts to "Maine Clean Power" and replace their oil-fired boilers with electric heaters, we would have an extra $1.5 billion circulating domestically in Maine's economy and we would keep 12 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year.

Storm Windows Clinic

F.W. Horch Sustainable Goods and Supplies, 56 Maine St., Brunswick, will host a clinic by Rendon Sabina of Downeast Interior Storms, titled "Make Your Own Interior Storm Windows," on Thursday, October 8, at 7:00 p.m. The clinic is free and open to the public.

Interior storm windows are transparent, insulating storm windows that can be installed on the inside of any window. They are simply made using wood, polyolefin film, and open cellulose foam. They are affordable, reusable, and will save energy costs year after year.

Interior storm windows are designed to keep heat in and stop drafts. Properly measured, made and installed, interior storm windows will significantly reduce heating bills, particularly in homes with older double-hung windows. In general, they are much less expensive than replacement windows. Unlike plastic films, interior storms are reusable year after year. They can be installed and removed without the use of tools or fasteners.

Attendees at Thursday's clinic will learn how to measure, make and install interior storm windows for their own homes or for friends and family. Storm windows may also be custom ordered through F.W. Horch for those not wishing to make their own.

Free refreshments and handouts will be provided.

Space is limited. To reserve a seat or for more information, please call 729-4050 or visit www.FWHorch.com.