Earth-conscious living starts at home

By Andy Mead - AMEAD@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Global climate change is a huge problem, and you're just little you.

But increasingly, in Lexington and elsewhere, individuals are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

In some cases, it makes financial sense. In most, it makes you feel better about your place in the world.

Here are some examples.

Dick and Faith Shore

Their brick Ashland Park home was built 80 years ago, when energy efficiency wasn't in the picture.

But the Shores have insulated and caulked until there isn't a draft anywhere. Dick finds energy-stealing air leaks with what he calls "a high-tech cold spot detector." It's a twisted-up piece of paper towel that he lights, then slowly moves around windows to watch where the smoke goes.

At one point, they got an estimate to replace all the windows in the house: $22,000. Instead, they cut pieces of clear lucite and made internal storm windows that are virtually invisible. The cost was less than what it would have taken to replace one window, Faith said.

They also bought a low-flow toilet -- it had passed a tofu-flushing test -- and bought a used Honda hybrid car.

Their herbicide-free yard has plenty of clover among the blades of grass. The native plants in the flower bed require little water. Their reel lawn mower needs no gas.

Ed and Nan Sweeney

In the fall of 2005, Ed attended the Bluegrass Energy and Green Living Expo and bought compact fluorescent light bulbs on the way home.

He also started being really stubborn about not turning on the air conditioning at their home near Henry Clay High School until it gets really hot, then using it only sparingly.

In 2006, their consumption of electricity went down by almost one-third.

The Sweeneys also pay Kentucky Utilities $15 extra each month to buy 900 kilowatts of "green" electricity. It is power produced by water flowing over Kentucky River Dam No. 7 at the Mother Ann Lee Hydro Station.

Nan has an organic garden in the back yard. On a recent trip to Atlanta, their Toyota Prius hybrid got 56.4 miles to the gallon on the way down, at speeds slightly below the limit. On the way back, at slightly above the speed limit, it got 54.6.

Michelle and Cole Bennett

When the Bennetts sat down last week to think about the ways they are reducing their footprint, they realized they are doing things that wouldn't have occurred to them five years ago.

They bought a house on North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard close to downtown, and that means less driving, Michelle said.

And it's an old house that they renovated, which took a lot less building material than buying new.

She worked with the Bluegrass PRIDE Wastebuster program to set up recycling at the pediatrician's office where she works.

"We started realizing that part of taking care of children is taking care of the world we're leaving them," she said.

Cole did the same at the architects' office where he works.

They have installed a programmable thermostat, and purchased a high-efficiency washing machine.

They also try to buy a lot of locally grown and organic food, and have become vegetarians (although Michelle is taking a break from that while she's nursing 4-month-old Audrey).

They have ordered a Prius, and are waiting for it to arrive.