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

Last August, I rode a bicycle across the country from Belmont to Anacortes, Washington on the Pacific Coast. It was a big experience and I’ll be talking about it on Saturday, April 14 from 3-5PM at the First Church in Belmont, 404 Concord Avenue.

Will, When the current Massachusetts nickle Bottle Bill was enacted into law in 1982 the smallest bottled water container was probably one gallon.  Today our playgrounds, parks, and roadways are littered with pint-size water bottles and 1982′s nickle is probably worth a penny or two.   An update of the Bottle Bill is long overdue.  [...]

Join us at First Parish of Watertown for the film, ‘Earth Days’  Saturday, April 21, 2012 @ 7:30 pm The film will be preceded by a potluck supper at 6:30p.m.   Come see the story of the birth of the modern environmental movement on the big screen, and enjoy good food and fellowship! 35 Church Street, [...]

In 2010, we did a deep energy retrofit on our home in Belmont. We tracked energy use in 2011 and found that we were 85% below the New England per person average. In so doing, we helped meet the “Thousand Home Challenge.” Check out the Thousand Home Challenge website and read about the challenge and [...]

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.

What is the net environmental impact of a deep energy retrofit (DER)? We know that adding insulation, a more efficient furnace, modern windows and leak sealing foam to an older house will reduce the energy required to maintain a given temperature. We can calculate the cost savings and GHG reductions. But what of the environmental [...]

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.