We went to one home on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. There were so many great components to each of these homes!
One home in Arlington had solar panels. The owner showed us his thermostat that told him how much energy he was using and how much electricity in $ that he'd saved since April (the panels were installed in April). He now pays about 1/4 of what his electricity bill used to be. He also was cooking brownies for all of the visitors in his solar oven. They were yummy! He mows his lawn with an electric lawn mower (and charges it with a rig he made with solar panels that he bought at Home Depot, a marine battery and an inverter). A rain barrel at the back of his house catches any rain that we get, and he waters his garden with it. They also had a clothesline in their backyard which greatly reduces their energy usage (clothes dryers use a lot of electricity!).
We saw composting in action and insulation made out of recycled blue jeans in the basement of one home.
The owners of a couple homes reused materials from other homes in their construction (purchased at yard sales).
They also planned their home's location according to how the sun shines (southern exposure is best for solar panels), and planted desiduous trees on the south side of the home. These trees keep the home cool in summer (with the shade) and warm in winter (leaves fall off in autumn and provide plenty of space for the sun to shine through).
We even saw a home off of Hwy 123 that has an earthen roof! The owners have to mow their roof! It helps keep the temperature regulated inside the home.
We were definitely inspired by all of the smart an innovative people we visited and came away from this weekend with lots of ideas that we can easily act upon to help the environment - and not for a lot of money.
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