I remember the first Earth Day quite well. I was in high school and it was the topic of much discussion. One of my classmates even walked to school that day which fascinated me because I knew that she lived so many miles away that she would arrive at school around the time we were leaving for home!

Around that time I started collecting all of our cans and bottles and compacting them to take down to Westchester County where the only nearby recycling facility was. It would be a few decades until our county offered residents a local recycling center and I made plenty of trips there once it was operational. It was also just two miles away which meant less gas consumed.

I have done my best to remember the principles behind Earth Day. Except for needing a Jeep when I was building my house and had an almost inaccessible location before the driveway was completed, I have owned a variety of subcompact VWs. A few years ago I did spring for slightly larger cars for the safety factor, an Audi and BMW, but I try to limit my driving to make up for the difference between these medium-sized sedans and the subcompacts that preceded them. I keep cars a long time which is one way that I have tried to cut down on energy when you consider the power used to make one car.

When it came time to build a new house we exceeded the building code for insulation. The walls are 10" thick and have as much insulation as many attics. The house faces south and is located on the south facing side of our hill so it is protected from winter blasts of wind. I added movable insulation to the floor to ceiling windows that are on two levels of the house so at night the insulation is equal to the insulation level of a typical exterior wall. The attic has double the amount of insulation as required by the NYS building code.

I built the house myself so I reduced the carbon footprint by not having a lot of contractors with their pickup trucks traveling to and from the building site. I was required to have a licensed electrician and plumber handle those two jobs so I can't take credit for that part of the building process.

We don't have a gazillion lights in the house and every light we have is energy efficient, such as the mini-fluorescent bulbs that are so widely available these days.

Another feature was to cut only the trees in the footprint of the house and thereby keep the house naturally cool in the summer through shade. An attic fan pulls warm air out during the day. There is no lawn only the woods, so no gas is used to cut grass.

When it came to plumbing we installed two residential-sized Clivus Multrum compost toilet systems to the house. The result is that only grey water flows into the septic system as mandated by the health department. We had to clear the use of the Clivus Multrum systems in writing with the health department and from what I have heard there are currently few in use in our area even though the technology is proven and has been around for decades.

Another way I have attempted to save energy is by focusing my business within the area of Manhattan so I can use mass transit to get around. I had plenty of experience in the past of spending far too much time in the car driving to far flung clients in Connecticut and New Jersey and when mergers eliminated these clients, I did not look for new ones in these more distant locations. Our house is centrally located . . . just a few miles to the schools, the train line, most shopping, doctors and the hospital. In ten minutes or less I can be at any of these locations thereby saving lots of gas over a year's time.

As electric cars become less expensive and better, I can see switching over and regarding the house I have a solar water heating system waiting to be installed. My report card is not an "A" but I figure I am in the "B-" range. Nevertheless, I keep thinking of ways to improve my "carbon footprint" and hope to score better in the coming years.

Above: the north side of the house has a minimal number of windows and trees surround the house on all four sides providing protection from wind in the winter and shade in the summer.

Below: The south side is loaded with large floor to ceiling windows for wintertime solar gain. Walls are 10" thick and have an "R" value of around 30, equivalent to the insulation value of many attics.

Below: a photo from the web showing the same Clivus Multrum composting units that I have. Mine are very hard to photograph with all of the heating equipment, etc. nearby. The harmless compost material is spread out in the woods where it continues to become top soil.

Happy Earth Day to everybody on Open Salon!!