All How-To Topics
Better than Plumb
|
|
On the road to new energy
comments (0) May 1st, 2008 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
no recommendations
Last week, I drove to upstate New York on business. I
had reserved one of our company cars, a Chrysler Sebring, for the trip. But
when I went to pick up the keys, I learned that we sold the Sebring and bought
a Prius. Two of them, in fact. I also learned you don’t get a key with a
Prius, you just get a remote for the keyless entry, which you stick into a slot
in the dashboard. Next, you push a button that says “Power.” Then you wait a
long time for the sound of an engine starting, which never comes, and finally,
you notice a polite little illumination on the dash that says “Ready.”
All of this was explained on a laminated card that I found on the front seat,
but which failed to tell me that you can’t put the car in gear unless you have
your foot on the brake. I figured that out after a few minutes and, eventually,
got under way. I was relieved to discover that driving a Prius is just like
driving any other car, except for an LED screen on the dash with a bar graph
registering how many watts of electricity the car has generated.
I was headed to Farmington,
N.Y., to visit New Energy Works
Timberframers and its sister operation, Pioneer Millworks,
which deals in reclaimed lumber. Jonathan
Orpin, the owner, had invited me to give a talk at an annual event they
call “A Day of Business.” It’s an all-day meeting and celebration in which
employees learn how the company is doing financially, hear about highlights
from the past year, get a glimpse of what’s coming, and even share their
personal knowledge in a series of afternoon workshops on topics ranging from
interior design to floor installation. The day was capped off with a grand
dinner at a local country club.
I’ve known Jonathan for a long time. I bought the reclaimed timbers for my addition from him a dozen years ago, and his ads for Pioneer Millworks are maybe my favorite in the magazine—although I have to admit that there’s an ad for Uponor radiant heating in the latest Houses issue with a dog and a little girl that’s pretty good. Of course, anybody can get your attention with dogs and kids. It’s a lot harder with a grizzled graybeard named Carl. I got to meet Carl, by the way; he seemed like a nice guy.
Jonathan said I could talk about
anything I wanted to, which is a dangerous liberty to accord me these days, so
of course, I talked about green building. In fact, I berated the assembled
group for not doing enough. It was an odd thing to do, given that these folks
are among the greenest builders I know.
First, they build timber-frame homes, which, according to Stewart Brand,
ensures a 300-year-old structure that is “adaptable, recyclable, and
beautiful.” They’ve been reclaiming timber (keeping it out of landfills) for 20
years. Their shop and office are powered 100% by wind energy and are heated
with their own scrap wood (burned in highly
efficient Garn boilers). And their off-road equipment runs on biodiesel. I was
definitely preaching to the choir.
They were polite enough to laugh at my jokes and applaud at the end, so I guess
I got away with it (maybe because I gave myself a harder time than I gave
them). But my favorite part was afterward, when the company’s finance manager
came up to me and said that I had persuaded her to pay more for her electricity
at home. Like a lot of utilities these days, her local power company offers a
program that allows you to pay a little extra to receive a portion of your
electricity from renewable sources. Essentially, you’re subsidizing the
development of renewable energy. My talk inspired her to sign up, which made me
feel pretty good as I drove home in the Prius.
posted in: Blogs
|
|
|
|
-
How to Paint Fiber-Cement Siding
Painter Jim Lacey shares some tips for caulking and painting fiber-cement siding. read more
|
|
About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
Comments (0)
You must be logged in to post comments. Click here to login.