Green Eye View

Manchester, NH: The Log Home Show held at the Radisson in Manchester is one of our favorite home shows.  We have owned a log home for 10 years and love it.  This year the show shared some green concepts that made it very worthwhile to visit.  Our favorite builder Bob Tortorice, Building Alternatives, winner of HBRANH Builder of the Year 2009 and HBRANH 2009 Most Energy Efficient Design all three categories, gold/silver/bronze, now offers energy auditing services.  We jumped at the chance to hire him and have this done at our home for many reasons, such as understanding how tight our home is, where improvements or repairs can be made to save energy, what options there are to enhance our good energy practices.

Hybrid PV Thermal Roofing System

They taught us about a few new products that we are very interested in. Dawn Solar provides a new roofing system that can generate energy AND hot water while looking like normal metal roofing.  We aren’t looking to replace our roof anytime soon but we are looking at using it for a 3 season porch we might put in.  The concept is just so fresh and practical!  We’ll price it out and do a separate blog post on the findings.

We also learned about a product that eliminates the need for laundry detergent and hot water by treating the water with silver ions.  I haven’t reviewed this yet, so I’m not endorsing it, but it bears looking into since I have sensitive skin and have to buy hypoallergenic detergents and skin products all the time.  It’s called LaundryPure by Ecoquest.

Solar Store in Hollis

Did you know there was a Solar Store in Hollis?  Yes, it’s tucked back from the road in the Post Office building.  It’s called Nashua Energy Options, LLC.  While doing a web search on the name, I found there is a recent Hollis Brookline Journal article: http://www.cabinet.com/hollisbrooklinejournal/hollisnews/587296-308/nashua-energy-options-opening-in-hollis.html. Also, the Nashua Telegraph mentioned an event I’m sorry I missed: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/595766-196/energy-company-to-host-hot-water-day.html.

I haven’t had the opportunity to visit it yet, because it’s hours of operation haven’t jived with my availability.  But I do intend to visit.  If you drop in, please let me know what you find inside.  I’m interested in residential solar products of all shapes and sizes and I hope that is what this store has to offer.

PS: There are other Solar Stores…see http://www.usasolarstore.com/solar/?page_id=9#New%20Hampshire and http://www.nhsolarstores.com/.

Whaleback Property may be largest land purchase in 35 years.

Hollis, NH:  I happened to pass this sign on my way through Hollis the other day and was curious what the Whaleback property was.

This website explains it very well: http://www2.beaverbrook.org/Whaleback-Property.html . In my opinion, the purchase of contiguous land for conservation is worthwhile.  I’m just not sure how  they can raise $200K by the end of March.  It’s possible that the land is at an all-time low price if the land market is mirroring the housing market.  It would make this purchase even more important to the taxpayers and donors since they would be getting more for their money.  Unfortunately, times are lean and digging deep into pockets for charity could be difficult.  Not to mention there is competition from fundraisers like Haiti relief.  But to end on a good note, charity starts at home, so those in Hollis and surrounding towns should consider this carefully if you are in favor of conservation!