We have a home composter and also take some compost to the Acton Transfer Station. We've been composting at home for years: stainless container next to the sink for veggie and fruit composting. Our big composter is outside our basement door and we've had no problems with racoons or other critters. Miraculous how it breaks down and adds so much to our garden's soil. We signed up for the Acton Transfet Station a few years ago and to my delight I learned I can put meat scraps, bones, fish skins in Acton's transfer station compost collection barrels. They are collected by Black Earth. Don't worry about odors. Just put scraps into the bags they sell at the transfer station (bpi compostable) and keep them in your freezer until they're ready to be taken to our transfer station.

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.