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" POPULAR MECHANICS contributor Ben Hewitt keeps readers updated online as he researches a series of print articles for the magazine on alternative-energy technologies--using his own home as a test lab. Hewitt and his family live off the electrical grid in northern Vermont; they&amp;#039;re experimenting with ways to improve their lifestyle, while reducing dependence on fossil fuels. -- The Editors Sorry for the long delay between posts; there simply hasn&amp;#039;t been much to report. The switch has flipped on the sunshine, and all solar systems are running at full throttle.  It&amp;#039;s been very cold for the past couple of weeks, but soon the temps will rise and it will be time to retire the cold box for the season. I&amp;#039;m going to miss it. There&amp;#039;s something immensely satisfying about bypassing the most energy-hungry appliance in our household, if only for four months of the year.  The cold weather has had me thinking about heating \u2026 we currently heat with wood only, burning about four and a half cords each year. (Although we have propane-fired radiant heat in our kitchen/dining room floor, we don&amp;#039;t use it much because it hogs so much gas.) That&amp;#039;s not so bad for the size of our house (2200 sq. ft.), but it&amp;#039;s still a lot of wood to cut and split and schlep into the house. I&amp;#039;d at least like to make better use of it by hooking up a hot water coil to our wood stove, to augment our solar hot water on cloudy days. But I suppose that&amp;#039;s for another winter.--Ben THE PM ENERGY FAMILY BLOG "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a485/2402271/>