I don't know if traditional fireplaces are carbon-efficient (note to self: research), but they're cost-efficient if the fuel is free.



After last month's big storm, two large pine trees were down in the complex's common area, and to my surprise (I'm from New England) the cleanup crews just threw the cut logs into the underbrush. So I've been carrying them up, one at a time, and in the fall I'll cut and split them.

It's not sustainable -- all the trees in that narrow strip of woods would only provide heat for a few houses for a single winter -- but it does feel self-sufficient.
 

The heating-cooling machine in the basement is definitely broken (it is apparently something like 20 years old -- longer than its life expectancy). Thursday it shall be replaced by the landlords, or rather, their 'guy,' who can sometimes sell them a better appliance with cosmetic damage for the same price as the basic unit. But I digress.

They asked if we would pay a little extra (if and when we buy this place) for a programmable thermostat. Well, just the day before we'd been looking at the Low Impact Living Calculator, and it recommends just such a thing, with between 1-3% annual savings of electricity, water, and CO2, generating a payback period of between 8-10 months (depending on thermostat cost and size of house).

So even though it sounded like a boondoggle gadget, we said yes.