Editor’s Note: The submissions for homes featured in this post came from home owners, builders, architects and renewable energy professionals across the state. We reviewed data for all of the submissions received and selected the five homes that you will see featured in these pages. As you will see, they represent a diversity of size,…
By Tux Turkel Going solar wasn’t a big stretch for Serena Graham. She grew up in an environmentally-aware family, with a father and two cousins who had solar-electric panels. So when she and her husband bought a 1962-built house in Waterville, they insulated and air-sealed and dumped oil heat fora wood pellet boiler. They replaced power-hungry lights with LEDs, to…
Roughly half the homes that Maine solar installers visit aren’t well situated for installing electric or hot water panels. But that means half will work, either with a rooftop array or one mounted on a pole on the property. How’s your home? What direction does your roof face? True south is best, of course. That’s…
With the Winter chill in the air, we decided to catch up with Scott Libby, owner of Royal River Heat Pumps in Freeport to learn more about heat pumps and how evolving technology can help us efficiently heat our homes. SRG: What is a heat pump and why are they so popular right now? SL:…
By Heather Chandler I became the proud owner of an all electric Nissan LEAF in April, 2014. I have a level 2 (220 volt) charging station installed on the side of my house adjacent to the driveway, which means I can plug in when I get home each day and then leave the house with a…
It’s often repeated that a heat pump works like a refrigerator, and it heats your home like a refrigerator in reverse. But how many people know how a refrigerator works? This is how Dana Fischer, the residential program manager at Efficiency Maine, explains what’s going on. The basis for both devices is to move heat energy from one…
The age of the air source heat pump By Tux Turkel Transformational. That’s a word to describe the heating transition in Maine a half-century ago, when home-owners started saying goodbye to their coal bins and hello to oil tanks. Compared to coal, oil was cleaner, more convenient and more efficient. In 2015, we may be on…
Time and technology are changing. What’s the best heat for your house? The numbers are dropping fast, but roughly seven in 10 Maine homes still rely on oil as the primary heating fuel. So the recent sharp drop in wholesale petroleum prices has many homeowners wondering whether it’s worthwhile to convert from heating oil or kerosene to other fuels.…
Enjoy more comfort and spend less on fuel this winter By Tim King Working with a master Jack-of-all-Trades, Do-it-Yourself dad, I can’t tell you how many times I heard the phrase, “Don’t worry, trim hides a multitude of sins.” I quickly learned that what he meant by this was that a well-placed, decorative piece of trim molding…
Charging into a new energy future in Maine By Barry Woods Since their re-introduction in 2011, electric vehicles have been captivating the imagination of consumers and clean energy advocates. They provide exceptional driving performance with responsive torque triggered by quiet electric drive motors. The cost of electricity is a fraction of gasoline, such that most consumers…