Over the last decade we have replaced every original window, door, and skylight in our 1978 Cape Style home with new Energy Star rated replacements. We had to do the work in phases due to cost, but we have completed the last replacements with the exterior doors this spring. The differenece in air-tightness is very noticiable. In the summer, the cool stays in longer even though we do not have whole house air conditioning.  In the winter, the snow does not instantly melt off the skylights like it did with the old, original skylights.  The added bonus is that the new windows and doors look great!

We were part of the Solarize Harvard project which was done several years ago. We were pleased to add solar to provide green electricity to our antique house. 

We bought a TESLA battery thinking that it would be a good, quiet, backup to have during power outages. It has been. The only way we know there has been an outage is the sound of a neighbor's generator starting. While the battery doesn't have the long-running capacity of a generator installation, we managed to nurse it through a three day outage without unplugging the fridge. That is worth the cost alone. What we didn't realize was that National Grid's Connected Solutions program would pay us to use our battery to help power the grid on hot summer days. We thought this would be mostly an environmentally altruistic gesture, so the first annual check for $800 was a very pleasant surprise!

Not driving a Tesla...but just trying to step-by-step make choices to address these issues. As stuff needs to be replaced, we are trying to switch to battery-operated equipment. So far, the snowblower, handheld lawnmower for the front, and the weedwhacker are all electric!

While we work towards converting most of our property to a polinator meadow, much of it will need to be mowed for the forseeable future, particularly along the edges of the proerty where the forest understory would love to take over the to-be meadow. The electric lawnmower has made that much less of a chore. Amazingly, the E-Go mower we bought seems to be able to plow through overgrown grass and even foot-high underbrush without hesitation (on its amazing 8" height setting). On top of that, it is quiet! Who could have imagined a lawnnmower without the roar? The battery last about an hour and recharges in about half that time, giving me an excuse for a cool drink on the porch.

Our gas furnace was in need of replacement. We wanted a heat pump for efficiency and to electrify much of our heating needs. Given the age of our house (over 100 years), which still has the original single-pane windows, we decided on a dual-fuel or hybrid solution. It consists of a heat pump (for air conditioning and heating) with a high efficiency gas furnace as supplemental for the coldest days (if needed).  Our hope is the heat pump will be sufficient to supply the vast majority of our heating needs come the winter heating season.