Lighten Up!

All right. I've had a nice long weekend to chill out and cool down (all without air conditioning).

After listening to friends and family reactions and watching the show again, we were able to have fun and relax. It was a great experience, we may have earned some eco-cred, and Steve really is a cool guy.

Calm But Dissapointed

Maybe I'm taking this too seriously. Maybe I should let it go. And I will. After this post.

The following is our response to Steve Thomas's Journal on Planet Green:

While we understand the need to generate interest, tension, and ratings, we also feel it is important to get some of the facts straight: The cost of the panels was less than $5000, and some of that cost included the infrastructure (wiring, etc.) for the full system which will be installed over the summer—the originally scheduled installation time.

Our roof is absolutely not about to collapse. On the contrary, it is quite sound. Who would live in a home with a roof in danger of collapsing? It does, however, need new shingles—again scheduled for replacement this summer.

 

Nica was hardly embarrassed and does not consider this commitment and investment in her family’s future to be “eco bling.” It is a matter of not only being green, but also being practical and reducing the home’s energy costs.

Part of the reason the Flemings agreed to do a solar installation was to show how easy it was to take the panels off the roof. In Rob’s work he comes across many people who suffer from “eco-paralysis” because they are overwhelmed with trying to things the “right” way in the “right” order.

 

As for the financial investment for the small array we received an excellent price for the full system to be installed later.

As we move forward towards a greener future we need all need to learn to work together, avoiding divisiveness and criticism and begin to realize that there are many diverse paths to achieving sustainability – often requiring an open mind and a supportive environment.

We're just trying to do good stuff, Steve.

It's All In The Spin!

OK. So our segment was on TV last night. 

We were a bit hesitant about letting folks know when the show was going to air, mostly because we had no idea how we would be portrayed on the show. For the most part it was pretty good. BUT ...

Steve tried really hard to make Rob look like some wild ec0-dude who is willing to go for anything whether it works or not. Is he passionate about sustainability? Absolutely. But "horny for green" is not how I would describe him. Steve did.  Rob is really one of the most cautious people I know. Sometimes that drives me crazy when I want to get things done around here.

When I checked Planet Green's web site today there was a story on our projects. The story is about how we were so anxious to get solar panels on our house that we were willing to live with an almost collapsing roof. Come on! I got more and more P-Oed as I read. I was in the middle of posting a comment but—I suppose because I was banging at the keyboard and muttering curses— Rob thought I should calm down first. My fingers couldn't keep up with my protest!  I can write here, though.

Why would we—or anybody for that matter—place basic maintenance, not to mention SAFETY, below "eco-bling" as Mr. Thomas called the panels. And just for the record, we did not want to do the installation before the roof or before the state's rebate program was finalized, but rearranged the installation of the small array because of intense pressure from the show's production company .  The upside is that we got a real discount on the full installation scheduled for the summer. I guess we were naive looked forward to being on the show. I'm calm now.