Part of my recent silence here is from being on vacation last week, an enjoyable bike vacation that took me from SolarFest to a cabin near Manchester and thence to a permaculture design course in Burlington.

Here are a couple tidbits from that vacation, preceded by some news gleaned at Renewable Energy Vermont's annual meeting yesterday and what I learned yesterday about how the food, fuel, and transportation crises are affecting demand for home share services.

REV met at the NRG Systems building in Hinesburg, which exemplifies some of the most advanced incorporation of efficiency and renewable energy technology in the state. David Blittersdorf gave us a tour of their new building, scheduled to open in a week or so. The design is very similar to their existing building, but they've learned to build it smarter and for less money.

For example, the first building is cooled through radiant floor cooling, and the water in the floor is cooled by a heat pump that discharges to the pond out front.
The new building has two wells that pump groundwater, and it passes through the floor once and is discharged to the pond. From there, the water overflows into nearby wetlands. There's no electricity for a heat pump involved, just the pumping. Not a good solution in, say, Arizona, but I hope humid Hinesburg has enough groundwater that this won't be an issue. And since the water is discharged on site, maybe some of it will recharge the groundwater.

Anyway, a couple things I learned at the meeting:

* Cheryl Jenkins of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) said that demand for new renewable energy systems in Vermont is so high that funding for the Vermont Solar and Small Wind Incentive Program has been completely committed, as of Thursday. If I'm reading the numbers right, the program has committed over $2.3 million dollars in incentives since it began in 2003, and the money is expected to leverage an additional $4.5 million in private investment.

It's both good news that the demand is so high and bad news that the program has run out of money. But not to fear, the coffers are about to be refilled. Kelly Launder, who supervises the program at the Department of Public Service, told me today that they have an additional $750,000 per year for the next two years, and they just decided Wednesday who will receive the contract to administer it. She wouldn't say whether VEIC or someone else won the contract; that information will be public soon.

If you are interested in applying for the incentive money, just keep applying to VEIC, Launder said. They'll queue the applications and the administrator of the new program will start processing them within a couple weeks.

* Ken Nolan at Burlington Electric reported that they are working to be the first municipality in the nation to help customers finance solar electric systems with long-term loans. The idea is that the City of Burlington would bond for a pot of money for a revolving loan fund, getting the low interest rate that municipal bonds are eligible for. Building owners could borrow from that fund to pay for installation of solar electric systems, with a payback time of 20-30 years. The payment would be made as a surcharge on property taxes; the city already has a collection system in place.

Right now, apparently it is difficult to get more than a 10-year loan for a solar electric system. Since they tend to pay off their costs over more like 30 years, this program would match the costs with the stream of benefits.
The loans would attach to the property, not the owner, so if an owner sold the property, she would also be selling the loan obligation.

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The high price of energy has not only spurred lots of interest in renewable energy in Vermont and dropped the numbers of miles driven in this country, it has spurred a new interest in home sharing. Home Share of Central Vermont matches people who want to share their home, often elderly people who need some help, with those who are looking for reduced or free rent in exchange for doing some tasks.

On my WGDR radio show, Relocalizing Vermont, Home Share Communications director Ginny Sassaman told me yesterday that they got a few more inquiries than usual in June, and July has seen a spike of inquiries, mostly from people who have homes and are not sure how they're going to heat them or keep them this winter. So if you're interested in free or reduced rent and in helping out some of the most vulnerable on a daily basis, contact Home Share. They serve Lamoille, Orange and Washington counties and some adjoining communities in central Vermont. Addison, Chittenden, and Grand Isle counties are served by Home Share Vermont. Other regions in the state don't have such a service, unfortunately, but you can find some organizations to contact at a page on the Home Share of Central Vermont web site.

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On a personal note, two cheers for CCTA, who run the bus service in Chittenden County. I was going to give them three cheers, until a bus left me standing at a bus stop. Here's the story.

Last Friday, I bicycled with my gear (2 panniers and a dry bag bungied to the rack) from Peru (Vermont) with the goal of getting to Burlington that night, about 110 miles. I'd done a trip of similar length last year, to Montpelier, over more rugged terrain. Midway through the day, I remembered that I had been pretty miserable for a while last year, from about Woodstock until near Randolph, where I caught a second wind.

I felt pretty good on the ride through the Champlain valley, but 110 fully loaded miles doesn't leave much time to stop and smell the roses (or the chicory or the wild parsnips). Especially when I stopped in Rutland for a couple hours of phone calls and email to jump start the following week.

Late in the afternoon, I remembered that CCTA runs a Middlebury Link, a morning and evening commuter bus. And all their buses have bike racks! I called them to find out where and when I could get on, and rode to New Haven Junction, to a gas station at the corner of 7 and 17 where the bus stops on its way to Burlington.

I was pretty pleased that a $3 bus fare would cut the last 30 miles off my journey and get me in before dark. My pleasure turned to annoyance when the first bus steamed by me on Route 7, not pulling in to the gas station as the person on the phone assured me it would.

Some minutes later, the second and final bus of the day pulled into the gas station, on its way from Burlington to Middlebury. I glommed onto it and rode it down and back, just to make sure I had the ride. Sure felt good to let the energy slaves in the diesel drive me through the countryside. And, when I was the last person to get off the bus, the driver took me off the normal route to a spot further up the hill that was near my destination--good service on that bus!

Happy weekend!