Jacobsens reap a windy harvest

I miss seeing Rollie Jacobsen’s smiling face when I shop at Just Food (no offense to all the other smiling faces I still enjoy seeing!). The long-time pillar of the local retail community’s stint at Just Food was preceded by many years of service at Jacobsen’s Family Store, of which he was a third-generation owner until he sold the business in 2003. Rollie and his wife Shar moved to a rural property near Park Rapids, Minnesota, this summer.

I chatted several times with Rollie prior to their departure about his interest in powering their rural home with a home-scale wind turbine, and gave him some back-of-the-envelope numbers concerning power production, cost and installation of several different turbines. I was thrilled last week to receive an e-mail from Rollie in which he announced that he and Shar are now the proud owners of a model I recommended to them, a 20-kilowatt Jacobs (could there be a more appropriate name?!?) provided and installed by Winkelman’s Environmentally Responsible Construction.

The turbine began producing power on December 11th, and Rollie reports it is expected to produce between 19,000 and 23,000 kilowatt-hours per year. (The average Minnesota household consumes about 9,500 kWh per year, although I’ve seen households that use as little as 2,000 kWh per year, and I recently did an energy audit at a 6,700-square-foot McMansion that used 77,000 kWh per year–don’t get me started….) Rollie provided the photos you see here.

Rollie also reported no difficulty in permitting from the county or interconnection with the local electric utility. Rock on, Rollie and Shar! You should enjoy MANY years of zero-pollution, no-cost wind-generated electricity. While investment in a wind turbine of this scale yields a relatively modest economic return, it yields a tremendous return in satisfaction in knowing that you’re being part of the solution to some major global problems, and have put your money to work in support of your values.

Written by By Bruce Anderson on December 17, 2008 at 11:45 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Gliding through the Arb

I love visiting Carleton’s Arb in any season, but have a particular fondness for the snowy months when I can ski to my heart’s content on the Arb’s many miles of beautiful, gently rolling trails. I’ve been cross country skiing in the Arb since about 1969, and never tire of the ever-changing mosaic of fields, restored prairie and oak savanna, and woods. (Click the photo at right for a slideshow of photos shot this Tuesday.)

Good ski conditions have been hard to find in recent winters, unfortunately. For the past decade or so, our winters have generally given us skiable snow for a few days or weeks, only to be followed by major thaws. Last winter was an exception, with decent snow pretty much all winter, beginning in early December. I wasn’t able to enjoy it much, though, as I broke my ankle in a freak accident while on my second ski outing of the year a few days after the first major snowfall. Bummer!!!

This year, I’ve vowed to avoid broken bones. I’ve now made it through my first full week of skiing with nary a fall, let alone a broken bone. I had two wonderful outings in Scott County’s Cleary Lake Regional Park Friday and Sunday of last week, and was able to hit the Arb trails three days this week. The conditions are pretty good, given the modest amount of snow we’ve had so far.

Kudos to Dennis Easley’s grounds crew for grooming the trails, even though Carleton students are on break until early January! The Arb is a gem, having been managed with loving care for many years under Director Myles Bakke (retired this past year), and now under Director Nancy Braker. The Arb is a genuine gift to the community, open to use by all.

Written by By Bruce Anderson on December 12, 2008 at 8:20 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Open Hands barn-raising: beautiful, functional reuse

After seeing the Northfield News photo essay on the Open Hands Farm barn-raising a few weeks ago, I knew I needed to swing by to see what was happening. I’m a huge fan of locally-produced food, old timber-frame barns and reuse of construction materials. What’s not to like?!?

I walked the 2.5 miles from my home on St. Olaf Avenue out to the farm on 320th Street West a couple of frosty mornings ago with my trusty Cairn Terrier/West Highland Terrier companions, Angus and Ruby, and shot some photos of the proceedings. (Click on the photo below for the full Flickr slideshow.)

I was thrilled to see that the good folks at Open Hands, Ben Doherty and Erin Johnson, are working with Mark Johnson of Terrasol Restoration & Renovation, a St. Peter builder who specializes in salvaging old barns and reusing their timber-frames in new structures. I’ve been intrigued by the possibility of reusing the timber-frame(s) of one or more old barns in the cohousing project I’m developing (Buffalo Commons Cohousing), and spent a fascinating afternoon with Mark last winter touring a number of the barns he has in his “stable,” ready for deconstruction and reuse. I took photos of a number of them, and subsequently of some other beautiful old barns in the Northfield area (which you can see by clicking on the photo at right).

I’m looking forward to seeing Erin and Ben’s finished barn!

Written by By Bruce Anderson on November 26, 2008 at 3:56 pm | Posted in Agriculture, Cohousing | Comments (0)

Making wise home energy investments

For most people, their house is not only their home, it’s also their single largest investment. Investments in our homes have been taking a battering with falling home values the past couple of years, but there is another way to make a nearly sure-fire investment in your home: investing in home energy efficiency. Natural gas prices have risen by over 6% annually for the past 30 years, and electricity prices have risen by more than 3% annually over the same period. Savings you lock in now with efficiency improvements will compound over the years and save you ever more money as energy prices increase.

Depending on the age of your house and the way your household uses it, you may be able to realize a great return on investment in such things as attic, sidewall, or foundation insulation, a programmable thermostat, sealing air leaks, replacing old, inefficient appliances, minimizing vampire electrical draw, installing a tankless water heater, upgrading your heating or cooling system with a high-efficiency furnace and/or air source or ground source heat pump, or other measures. I’ve performed several thousand home energy audits since 1984, and whether a house is six months old or 130 years old, I can always find energy-saving measures for homeowners or renters, provide a prioritized plan for making the most efficient investments, and guide folks to appropriate rebates and/or tax credits.

Once you’ve made your home as energy-efficient as possible, you can consider whether you want to go the Full Monty by making a long-term investment in renewable energy for your home by installing a solar water or space heating system, a solar electric (photovoltaic or PV) system, or a small wind turbine if you live on an appropriate site.

If you are a customer of Xcel Energy, you can request a subsidized home energy audit by calling 800.895.4999. You pay only $35, and get a thorough analysis of the energy-saving opportunities you might otherwise be unaware of. I’ve done about 230 energy audits as a sub-contractor for Xcel since I started doing energy audits again in late 2006–I’d love to do one for you!

Written by By Bruce Anderson on November 25, 2008 at 1:06 pm | Posted in Community Education and Planning, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

It’s the local economy, stupid: cohousing event at The Grand

If you like great (local!) food, great (local!) music, and innovative (local!) housing solutions, you owe it to yourself to check out Friday evening’s happening at the Grand Event Center, Cohousing: Pushing the Sustainable Neighborhood Development Envelope, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The Zillionaires, featuring the dynamic Northfield wife/husband duo of Wendy Smith (guitar, accordion, vocals) and Dave Drentlaw (drums, vocals) accompanied by Vicky Wiegand (bass) and Peter Nelson (guitars, vocals), kick the evening off. Groove to their music while enjoying delicious local food (veggies from local CSAs, bread from Brick Oven Bakery, cheeses from Shepherds Way Farms, chicken from Finca Mirasol, and local cider) catered by Just Food Co-op.

At 7:00, The Zillionaires turn the stage over to Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett (McCamant & Durrett Architects and CoHousing Partners), cohousing pioneers from Nevada City Cohousing in northern California who literally wrote the book on cohousing 20 years ago, and have worked on the design and development of dozens of cohousing communities nationwide since. Katie and Chuck will present a cohousing slideshow/lecture describing the many innovative features of cohousing, which engages community members in design of their own neighborhood and combines private living space with design intended to maximize community engagement. Ample time will be allowed for questions from the audience.

At 8:30 The Zillionaires hit the stage again (until 10:00), allowing folks time to socialize and enjoy their favorite beverage (a cash bar will be open all evening). I’m looking forward to a fun and informative evening!

Written by By Bruce Anderson on November 6, 2008 at 9:54 am | Posted in Cohousing | Comments (0)