Over 30 years ago my house was built with state of the art efficiency. When we bought it we were thrilled with the triple paned argon filled windows and 2x6 construction filled with Icynene insulation.

This past year I had Mass Save come out and assumed there would be essentially nothing they could offer me. Surprise surprise--a Mass Save contractor added 6 inches of insulating in the attic floor to bring me up to the improved code and an R value over 60. They also installed an insulated cap above the pull down stairway to the attic. According to Mass Save your attic is the most crucial area of your home to insulate properly. We live in Zone 5 and this zone has a recommended R-Value of 49 to 60 for an uninsulated attic, R38 to R49 for an attic with existing insulation, and R25 to R30 for the floor. (NB: My house does have an air to air heat exchanger so I have warmed air exchange with fresh air, important with a hyper insulated house.)

Thanks to the Energize Acton Energy Tour at David Martin's house we made the decision to move forward with heat pumps. David became our energy coach and within a few days came for a house visit and followed up with a written report. We learned a lot and as luck would have it, within one week we have had an energy assessment and insulation installment by Revise. We are now going out for bids on heat pumps. Our coach David will look over the quotes we get and run them by Adobe.

We are excited about the idea of both heat and cool air and feeling supported  thanks to David and Energize Acton!

Our house is in the shade so no potential for solar. At Revise's recommendation we had a free consultation with Relay Power and signed up for Community Solar.

In the end, we went with New England Clean Energy, out of Hudson, MA, to do our 2022 roof solar panels. We are really happy with their work and SUPER happy with our electricity bills! Initially, we did research through the EnergySage website and their information was very helpful. We got five quotes from different EnergySage vendors, who basically do their quotes through google maps photos. We were really hoping to speak with a vendor in person because there were ground mount solar panels installed at our house before we bought it. We wanted to understand how the old panels and the new solar panels would interface. That was when we contacted New England Clean Energy, which is a well known firm in Acton through the Solarize Acton program in 2012. The owner actually came to our house and took almost 2 hours to talk with us. We were prepared for long delays due to covid and utility approvals, but our whole process was complete within 5 months. With net metering solar credits through Eversouce, our October electric bill was $0.00!!!! We expect lots of zero bills during the prime months of solar generation. PLUS, this year on our taxes we will get back 30% of the cost from the new federal Inflation Reduction Act legislation. For info go on tax rebates go to Energy.gov. Next in our decarbonization process, we need to buy an electric vehicle.

Installing rooftop SOLAR was our 1st home 🏡 decarbonization step! We worked with New England Clean Energy to put panels on the back of our house (inspired  by Solarize Acton) & added solar panels to the front of the house prior to installing whole house heat pumps! 

This past year, we had zero electric bill due between April and January with our Eversource net meter carryover credit! YAY 😁 .  We also received Federal & State Tax credits & ongoing SMART credits! It's lke a green 🌱🌎☀️investment!

I love our Chevy Bolt! It drives well, is peppy, and comfortable. We are now leasing our second one on a second 3 year lease. We think that leasing is a great way to drive an electric car, because we can upgrade every three years. The Chevy Bolt is very affordable to lease. What I absolutely love is what is called “one pedal driving”—when you let up on the gas pedal, the car begins smoothly braking, so you do not need to move your foot to the brake to slow down and stop. That is fantastic for my leg and hip especially in bumper to bumper traffic! We have needed NO repairs and maintenance for all the years we have leased a Bolt.

We purchased a Kia EV6 in June 2023 and we are very happy with the car. The sales person at the Kia dealership was super knowledgeable and helpful. A real standout. The Kia EV6 was not eligible for the federal rebate, but the dealership gave us that amount of discount on a lease. (We still got the Massachusetts $3500 rebate and very promtly, too!) The drive of the vehicle is very smooth and the pick-up is amazing. The best part is knowing that we are drawing on renewable energy for our transportation via Acton Power Choice Green and home solar. Even the skeptics in our household are thrilled with the car, but it is a new way of driving. While the range in the EV6 is GREAT (over 300 miles), there are factors that affect the range, e.g. how fast we are driving, is the air conditioing on, etc. The screen gives constant feedback, so the driver always knows what is happening, but it is still different from a gas powered car where all you think about is the gas meter. The touchscreen is definitely different and there has been a learning curve as we have educated ourselves about all the programming options (something common to ALL new vehicles). But the effort has been worth it.

We have the Chargepoint App which is super simple to use, plus Acton has great public charging options. We did have a home charger installed about a month after buying the car. (There are federal and Eversource rebates for car charger installations.) We were quite shocked at the first electrician's estimate for labor (!), but a fellow EV driver recommended Blackout Energy and we got the charger and the installation for about $2200. It would probably be less for most people because the electrical conduit had to run quite a distance in our case. An unexpected perk of getting an EV is the sense of community and sharing with other EV drivers. If you are thinking about an EV, go for it!!