Salem Living Green Fair

The Salem Living Green and Renewable Energy Fair has begun. We are the location for the speaker series, and it will begin at 11am.

Rinus Oestrook from the Salem Chamber of Commerce began by declaring this Salem Green Day.

I introduced the first speaker, and before doing so I highlighted the Free Washington DC Conference on June 25-26, Convergence on Zero, and mentioned that if we get a good Boston area turnout that Paul Allen the leader of the Centre for Alternative Technology wants to meet with us.

The Green House Doctor

Paul Marquis is the first speaker. He is the "Green House Doctor," and was voted "Best Green Consultant" by Boston Magazine in 2007. He is talking about Green materials for your home - especially dealing with historic restorations.

Paul is talking about recycled content and is considering other issues - such as using wood may require treatment, and that treatment may be harmful. Products need to be considered for being made from recycled products, if they can be recycled later, how long lasting they are, whether they need treatment during their life. In such considerations materials made from recycled plastics may be better than wood, because of the need for regular harsh treatment.

Now he is talking about the standards for historic homes. Everything on the outside of the home is subject to the historic commission's jurisdiction, unless hardship can be declared in that restoration to historic levels. So if you have clapboard siding, and need to replace it you may not be able to change it to something else, but you can make sure to use FSC certified lumber.

When you are choosing green Products there is no Gold Standard: General criteria though:

Lumber: FSC certified, torrified wood (in New England there is a company called Cambia Lumber which makes torrified lumber), another product Pure Wood.

Paints: Hey, I paint my house with C2 - it is on his list! Yeah. Then he mentioned milk paint. Rinus sitting next to me here has used it, and says it is the best thing for furniture refinishing.

Raw Food Discussion

Kristen Overlook and Anna Forkan from Revitalive Health and Wellness, LLC are talking about Eating Green, and they are raw food people. They both studied under the mother of the raw food movement Dr. Ann Wigmore.

This discussion has none of the "Don't kill animals!" type of guilt inducing perspective. They are talking about the fun side of Raw food! that's how they put it.

American's eat 8oz. of beef a day. Hmmmm...you could power a house off that kind of energy - that is their point.

Now - to "unfired foods." Reference to "The China Study". Also a reference to the Pottenger Cat Study. Now there was some debate about Pottenger's Cats on NPR this week, and it seems that not everyone thinks the study has accuracy, and applicability to this issue.

Protein? From where? Greens - Juiced Greens - Wheat Grass is high on the list. 75% of their diet is greens.

They are talking about good bacteria now. Quote from Louis Pasteur "The microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything." Kristin says this was a late in life quote from Mr. Pasteurization. Otherwise, if we had listened to him, we may not have pasteurized everything, because there are positive healing enzymes in "living food." It is not getting rid of them, but using them properly.

Now Kristin is giving testimonies of people who have been healed through a raw food diet in Central American missions they have been on.

Now - contrasting thee digestive tracts of carnivors and and humans. 33ft of GI tract or us. 6ft for a big cat. Carnivors have other enzymes we do not.

The FDA allows milk to have a certain number "puss sacks." Yummmmmmm.

Now there is a discussion of coffee - heavy metal, cadmium is in coffee. Steak: vacuum sealed left on the counter for three days --> it had worms! from where? they were already living in it.

Now they are talking about poop! Colon discussion. Jeff Cox asked if they believe in enemas. Yes they doo, uhm I mean do. They like to talk about poo, because the colon is so important to our health.


Solar Energy Incentives by Sunlight Solar

Nick and Ryan from Sunlight Solar are talking about incentives for solar panels. In MA, there are great incentive programs for both commercial, as well as private homes.

The basics is that the sun rays received by the panels is converted in an inverter and thus connected to the home. Helps roll back the meter saving monetary levels.

PPA(Power Purchasing Agreements) or third parties are involved with no up front costs with 10 or 15 year buy out options. The rationale is both environmental and financial. For example the installation of a 5kW system would amount to planting 30 acres of trees or not driving 237,000 miles. The end result is the removal OF 190,000 lbs of CO2 gases.

In MA, 4 rebates that individuals can qualify for

1. $ per $ subtract from the invoice
2. $5 per watt(performance based)
3. Maximum, about $50,000
4. Adjusted for orientation, shade and tilt angle

Federally, $2000 max for residence systems and operating prior to Dec 31, 2008