Going Zero Carbon --Sharing information on how we can start moving this way in our personal lives.

@theungamer what car did you get?  I'm collecting information on best electric cars. In my town many people have Teslas, but that is out of our range and there are no rebates for Teslas anyway. 

@jeanne-mayell We got our Tesla Model 3 during the CA and Tesla rebate periods. Model Y is priced lower and on par with other brands.  

The car itself is a wonderful maintenance free vehicle.  A few things to consider:

1.  Tesla body work is expensive and very few places will work on them.  Our windshield cracked and no one would touch the car.  We had to take it back to Tesla for ($1000) replacement windshield.  Ouch.

2.  Battery distance needs - Our 300 mile battery drains faster driving uphill requiring 2 extra charges to drive 250 miles north.  The downhill recharge does not come close to the uphill usage.

3.  Charging availability - We charge at home, but for long distance trips it helps that Tesla has planned well.  Charging on the road is widely available and inexpensive. 

The cost of electric cars needs to be more affordable for the masses. Let us know what your research finds.  

@jeanne-mayell Exciting stuff! I love this thread. We have a neighbor down the block who has solar on his roof. Works out very well for them. They are trying to get other neighbors to go together to get discounts. Our lot has lots of trees (yay!) and shade (boo for solar), so it is not really a good option for us. But I am looking forward to watching the technology for solar and other resources moving forward to see how else we can move towards renewables. 

@cc21 Thanks for posting. We also have a lot of trees which makes solar harder to pay off. I wouldn't want to remove the trees either. 

Food choices are a big way, and buying used clothes and recycled furniture is excellent.  I have a young friend who works at Friends of the Earth and you should hear her going on about food choices. We have an amazing recycled clothing store in town that has beautiful things in it for cheap. I'm not much of a clothes person but if I need something nice, I usually find what I like there. And some of it still has the labels on it. 

@jeanne-mayell 

How exciting that both of you are on the same page together.

My parents are exploring electric car options, they really want one.  One draw back they have right now are charging stations and the distances they need to drive.  They need a car that can go from AZ to L.A. (6.5 hours) and AZ to Colorado (12 hours).  Some electric car makers need specific types of charging stations, others are a bit more generic I understand.  The maker of the car they really desire doesn't not have many charging stations along those routes but plans more in the future.

I have suggested they consider an electric car for local L.A. driving and their hybrid for AZ/Colorado destinations until things change.

My hybrid is averaging 40 MPG right now which I am pleased with.  

Regarding gas stoves, I have only had electric but my parents love their gas stove.  I suggested they look into the toxic concerns linked to gas appliances.  If I were to purchase a new home, I would not likely get gas appliances.

I hope solar becomes more affordable, I would love to go solar, or wind.  We get a lot of both in AZ.

removed link

New solar powered cars.

@jeanne-mayell 

Hi Jeanne

I am adding some Australian sites which give some information on how to get started with solar, inverters, batteries etc which should still be relevant for America except for where to buy them of course. Hope it is useful.

FAQs | Clean Energy Council

Solar PV and batteries | energy.gov.au

How to buy the best solar panels for your home | CHOICE

How to get started with solar | CHOICE

Regards to all

PS  down here it is north facing for installation but in the northern hemisphere would it be south facing?

@jeanne-mayell (and everyone).

I watched the movie Kiss the Ground recently on Netflix and I highly recommend it. I was left with a sense of hope and possibility.

The biggest takeaway for me is the power of the soil. By regenerating the soil on a large enough scale we can actually pull enough carbon out of the atmosphere to COOL THE PLANET IN 30 YEARS!

That is jaw dropping to me. And it's not that hard to do. The hardest part is getting buy in from big agriculture. But still, there are things we can do as individuals, like supporting biodynamic and regenerative farmers, growing native grasses (there is a story of one man in the movie who, with help of course, was able to restore 14,000 square miles of completely soil destroyed land. It's phenomenal!).

And here's a short National Geographic video for inspiration about how quickly things can be restored. It's inspiring.

50 Years Ago, This Was a Wasteland. He Changed Everything 

We have solar on our house that supplies 98% of our electricity, I drive a hybrid for the little I actually do drive, we use ollas in our garden to save water and buy most of our food from regenerative farmers, so we really make an effort. 

But that movie really lit a fire for me that there's possibly an even easier and more effective way we can make a difference in the climate, even if it's on just a small patch of land.

There's also a book - I haven't read it but it's on my list. It's called The Soil Will Save Us (forgot the author's name, my apologies). 

@kateinpdx thank you for suggesting that movie. We will watch it! You are living  low carbon and that gives me hope. I have a vision that keeps returning to me of a hundred years of transition to an earth-conscious form of living and awareness. 

@kateinpdx Thanks for the movie recommendation .I will watch it.  I noticed a yard sign this week that said "good luck to our kindergartner - class of 34.  My first thought was  - so much will be so different by 34 and the years from now until then seem short.   There is a lot we can do.  Looking at how we live and what we can do here in my family.  Driving less is a big one.  

@jeanne-mayell

I love that vision! (Though hope it comes sooner, but still)

@kksali

Agreed, driving is a biggie.

I would also say where we get our meat (if we eat meat) is also a very important. Animals can be very good for the environment when worked with in a way that mimics nature. This was an eye opener to me!

We don't eat a lot of meat, but now when we do we are fortunate to have access to a regenerative farm that sells at our farmer's market. For those who can afford it, finding smaller biodynamic or regenerative farms and supporting them with our dollars is a step that makes a difference too. 

@lovendures, I recommend looking into the details, and this website is a good place to start:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/solar-panel-cost

After reviewing all the numbers, even though the cost of electric power is pretty low in Washington state, we have contracted for solar panel installation with battery backup, with installation starting next month. The biggest factor for us is the 26% federal tax credit which will essentially eliminate our income tax obligation for the year, the net metering which will essentially eliminate our electric bill going forward, and the capability of charging whatever plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle that might be in our future. Not to mention, the tax deductibility of any interest on the home equity loan we are using for financing, and being independent of brown-outs and electric grid failures. And knowing that the future begins now, with electric power generation becoming localized and distributed (rather than being tied up in hydro dams and power plants).

Also on the list is to look into electric induction ranges, heat pumps and hybrid electric water heaters, especially since an initiative has been proposed that will allow rebates and credits for switching to new appliances with low carbon footprints.

@snowbird Following this journey of yours from now until perpetuity!  

@dannyboy ? ❤️ ?

@kateinpdx 

The National Geographic film was stunning!  

Amazing!  Hopeful! 

Thank you for sharing.  Can't wait to watch the Netflix film.  

@lovendures

I'm so glad you liked the Nat Geo video.

I can't stop thinking about it and telling people about it. I was so moved!

@snowbird I now have some questions for you.  I cannot give up this beautiful land we live on even though my wife and I both hate this house and we decided we're going to do some home improvements to get things closer to where we want it.  Part of that is financed by us, and the rest possibly by a home equity loan (after we've done a few things to hopefully return the house to the value it was at when we bought it) - I started thinking about making it a longer journey and paying for it all ourselves because my wife and I both want to be retired by the time I'm eligible in 11 years and we still owe  

Solar panel question I can't seem to find a definitive answer to, but since you're taking the plunge you may have considered or asked:

One of our home repairs is the roof which was relatively new when we bought the house 15 years ago but is showing wear in some places.  

Do you replace a roof if you're putting panels down and that part of the roof is fine (essentially I see panels on the roof as replacement roofing - am I wrong in that?) 

We figure we'd probably have to replace the roof portions that are showing wear, and possibly the portions where panels wouldn't go (half of our house is blanketed in trees, but the other half as well as the two car garage/work room are completely unshaded making that an ideal place to add panels too.

I did the math - aside from the room we will need to do a home equity loan on sooner rather than later, we can redo the floors in the house ($3500), replace our laminate countertops with quartz ($5000), in the next 18 months (sooner if I hit the jackpot with some independent contractor gigs but those are hard to gauge so I never count on any), redo our siding in the next 26-28 months at $12,000, which then leaves me with what I'm estimating to either be $10,000 in roof replacement and $40,000 in solar panels (literally just did the first calculator on Google so you may laugh and say it's nowhere near that, or that I'm cute for thinking it's so low) - and I'd really like to just buy those myself so... probably 5 years out?  (Hoping more tax credits become available after these expire next year)

Basically my question above but is my math holding on the panel cost?

@dannyboy   You didn't ask me, but if you are putting conventional solar panels on top of the roof you would be wise to put a new roof on first.  A 15+ year old roof is at least middle-aged, maybe near its end-of-life if low-budget shingles were used.

Some friends of mine came into some money and put solar panels on an aging roof.  Kind of like yours-- it was OK but showing it's age.  A few years later they realized the hard way the roof had to be replaced.  The solar contractor had to come out and remove all the solar panels and put them back up later.  It was $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.  They had been so enthused about "going solar" that they chose to overlook the  need for a new roof, first. 

That said, there is now such a thing as "solar shingles" that can be used directly as roofing material.  I'm not sure of how they are installed but I am certain it would be advisable to remove the existing shingles and possibly the underlayment.   Solar shingles might need a special underlayment-- I don't know--- but in any case you surely don't want to have new fancy shingles on top of a compromised roof or old shingles.  Roof repairs are nothing to be postponed.  If water gets into your house, it initiates a chain of degradation and failure.   Do it right the first time, is my advice.

@ana There's only one place where we have a leak - and it's because of the trees from the tree thread which - we still need to take down ?.  That's in our home repair plan but because it was once the porch that they decided to close in and make a sunroom inside the house the damage is minimal. It's ceramic tile on concrete flooring and only one wall that we think will need to be replaced entirely (which, I can do a sheet of drywall.)  The rest of the roof is solid but there is one portion of it that may need to be re-shingled - so that insight is good to know.  I'll leave a $10K roof repair/reshingle in my plans for now :-).

This is almost like a game right now "How much of this can we do without a loan?" - and I know that solar could take me off the electric grid which could save $180 or more a month, but that's like $1200 a year which doesn't do much to dent the other things that will still need to be paid monthly.