Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

Will, I recently moved to Belmont and had an energy audit done through the Mass Save program. The auditor told me that because I live in Belmont I was not eligible for several Mass Save programs, including free efficient light bulbs and no-interest loans for energy improvements. Can you explain why Belmont residents are excluded [...]

Builders can do good and make more money through green building. It’s not so hard to get started.

This is a set of thoughts for builders seeking to become more green oriented. The thoughts may also be helpful for homeowners thinking about green projects.

The all-electric Nissan Leaf will be available in MA by end of 2011.  The federal incentive is $7500.  Some regions and states, including California, offer additional incentives up to $5,000.  What is MA planning to do in order to encourage electric vehicles?

This post continues the sharing of learning from the “deep energy retrofit” of our home. It summarizes a financial analysis of the project.

Building Sciences Corporation has published a case study of our super-insulated home project.

We are doing a “deep energy retrofit” of our home. It’s a nice time to drive by if you are interested in the insulation process — different parts of the structure are at different stages.

Roughly 40% of carbon emissions are under direct individual control — half from transportation and half from electricity and heating in the home (as a nationwide average). An additional few points can be controlled by diet changes.

Links to online calculators and key numbers for personal carbon budget analysis.

For a personal Kyoto compliance amount, figure a little over 5 metric tons — 11,000 pounds — of Co2 per year per person.

Reducing animal product consumption may be a fairly direct route to reducing one’s greenhouse gas footprint and offers collateral health and environmental benefits. 

Affluent individuals tend to have larger carbon footprints than those less fortunate.