Ryobi is currently sold at Home Depot and Amazon. I bought mine in the Spring of 2022 so I’ve used it for 2 seasons. Home Depot in mid September still has 5 for sale at the Bellingham store. Amazon offers the same price but delivery will take a month. If you have Amazon Prime, delivery is free. The $399 40v mower comes with a single 6 amp hour battery. This is a wonderful battery that can give almost an hour of operation. The fast charger can recharge it about 90 minutes. Last year, I used the mower sometimes to cut my whole lawn. 2022 was much drier. 2023 has been so wet that the grass has been so thick that I have used my (gas) tractor to cut most of it and used the Ryobi to do about 15 minutes of trim work. So the Ryobi has allowed me to get rid of my gas push mower. I love how quiet the Ryobi is compared to the gas push mower. I also love instant on/off with no more pull cord starting. My tractor is over 20 years old and I would love to get an electric tractor when the prices come down. The Ryobi 42inch 80 volt tractor with bags currently costs $5500. I’d love to have one! Maybe in 2024!

After renting Airbnbs in Europe for years and discovering how speedy induction is, we decided to add an induction stove to our remodel in 2021. I love how fast it heats and how sensitive the heating controls are. I feel that I am a better cook because of this control! 

In 2019, while we were updating our heating system, we also evaluated our electric hot water heater and considered the opportunity to replace it with a low-carbon footprint electric heat pump hot water heater. We decided on a 50-gallon model by Rheem, which had good ratings, was comparatively quiet, and featured wifi control capability. With 50-gallon capacity, the unit is able to keep up with the hot water demands of our 3 bedroom home. The heat pump draws heat from the basement air, and uses that ambient heat to heat the water in the tank, using energy equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. The air flowing out of the unit is cooler and drier, and the water heater requires an auxiliary water pump to remove the condensate water from the unit. The noise produced by the heater is similar to the noise of a running dehumidifier. The unit also has a conventional electric heating element for high-demand times when the heat pump would be unable to keep up with demand. There are various settings which can be used to control the unit; we use the "energy-saver" setting, which prioritizes the heat pump mode, and automatically switches to conventional heating when needed. One can also choose only heat pump, or only conventional heating element modes, for complete control over the heater energy source. The wifi control capability makes it easy to switch modes, increase or decrease water temperatures, and monitor energy usage and unit health while away from the unit or even while on vacation, using a standard smart phone. Although a heat pump water heater is a more expensive initial purchase, the monthly energy savings, combined with the MassSave rebate (ours was a $600 rebate) enables an estimated payback period of 2 years versus a pure electric water heater. And by using the clean electricity provided by Dynegy to Franklin residents, we are happy knowing that our domestic hot water heating footprint is minimized!

(We have had the unit for 3.5 years as of this writing. We are very happy with this unit's performance, have had no issues at all, and have definitely saved energy during that time.)

I compost my food waste in a backyard food composter.  It’s essentially a perforated metal can with a lid purchased from a local hardware store.  Layering the scraps with handfuls of soil and leaves and occasionally aerating with a trowel results in rich natural material for my plants and decreases the amount of methane emitted into the atmosphere.  Many different types and sizes of home composters are available today.  Some composters are stationary, some rotate and others use a small amount of electricity to compost food scraps indoors.  It’s quick and easy to compost and keep compostables out of the waste stream.  Other items which can be included are paper (staples removed), newspapers and non-glossy paper, wax-coated paper products, cardboard (tape and staples removed), leaves/yard waste (weeds are okay for hot piles only — do not include in a cold compost pile to prevent spreading weeds where you’ll use your compost), non-plastic tea bags (staples removed), egg shells (crushed), and coffee grounds.  What can you compost?  

I used Arthur Home Improvement in 2007 to replace 21 windows, 2 sliding doors, remove siding, add 1/2in insulation and add vinyl siding. The Harvey vinyl windows and siding have required virtually no maintenance and I couldn't be happier with the way the project went and how it has held up the 16 years since. Happy to hear Bob Arthur's son Michael has joined the business. The house is definitely easier to heat and cool with the new windows and the insulation under the siding.

I was feeling good about our support for global warmimng when we completed putting solar panels on the house.  What an absolute no brainer, not only producing most of our house energy using solar, but saving money to boot.  Then we went to church and Carolyn and Rand Barthel gave another spirited sermon on going green.  I remember driving home that day wondering what can do to go even greener and I got a blinding flash of the obvious, my furnace and ac compressor were on their last legs and it was keeping me up at night.  I got home and immediately started googling geothermal and heat pumps.  After a little research, I called Rodenhiser and they showed me that I could replace my ac unit with an air to air heat pump providing new efficient air conditioning and my primary heating unit, as well as a new gas fired furnace that would serve as my back up heat.  All this plus MASS SAVE was offering all sorts of rebates.  First I had to have my attic insulation increased for mimimal cost, and I got a $10K rebate and interest free loan for the remainder of the system.  The total cost was $22K but after all of the rebates, I'm paying about $130 a month for 7 years.  What a deal, and I'm now sleeping like a baby.