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Green Belmont Energy Tour May 20
Sustainable Belmont is excited to offer its first Belmont Green Energy Tour on Sunday, May 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. Twelve local homes and facilities will be highlighted on this tour, with homeowners and contractors present to share their stories of energy savings efforts. Some homeowners will have statistics on savings realized as a result of these innovations.
The tour includes homes all over Belmont, including a single family 1915 old colonial whose owners leased a 3kW roof mounted solar array this past February. In March 2012, the first full month of operation, the system produced 304kWh of electricity. Another home has a newly installed 20-panel PV system with micro inverters, and online power production monitoring. Another home, likely to have one of the lowest BTU/sq. ft. ratio in town, needs no air conditioning in hot weather, using instead a whole house fan, awnings, and solar screens. Visitors will also see energy efficient windows on these homes, some triple glazed. The tour will include examples of ground-mount and roof-mount solar energy systems used to generate electricity, heat, and/or hot water; energy-monitoring systems (Ted 5000); a combined heat and power co-generator; a DIY all-electric Prius; and extreme recycling and composting.
Former Sustainable Belmont chair Jan Kruse, one of the organizers, says, "It is heartening to see how some in Belmont are substantially shrinking their carbon footprint to help meet the goal of reducing our collective carbon 80% by 2050 as outlined in the Belmont Climate Action Plan and adopted by Town Meeting members. We hope that these examples will serve as inspiration for others to visit these sites, ask questions of their neighbors, and then commit to taking energy-reduction steps in their own lives. Doing so often saves money, increases a property's value, and is good for the environment."
This event is free and open to all. Pick up self-guided tour maps, deigned by Sustainable Belmont member Jeri Weiss, and other educational material on May 20 at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or see www.facebook.com/