My Green House

This spring and summer I had solar hot water installed on the small roof and 24 PVC panels installed in the large roof. I am now connected to the NSTAR grid. My June bill was $16.80 ($103 savings) and my July bill was $115 ($175 savings over last year). I bought a rain barrel last week and will use the collected water for the vegetable garden and the milkweed patch I keep for migrating monarch butterflies.

To date, my house has generated more than 1170 kilowatt hours or 1.7 megawatts of clean energy saving approx the emissions generated from 2.55 barrels of oil.

Last year, I painted my house green with organic linseed paint and took advantage of Massachusetts insulation rebates to reduce my carbon footprint. Before that, I replaced each appliance with an energy-saving model and switched to CFL lightbulbs.

When I painted my house green, I had no idea that my home was on its way to becoming truly green.