Residents prepare to reduce energy consumption

Dan Ruben shows Marlborough resident Laurel Recket how to measure energy usage of appliances with a kilowatt reader at the Low Carbon Diet kick-off meeting Feb. 7. ANGELA GREINER Marlborough - The challenge was set Feb. 7 as 10 city residents met at Green Marlborough member Mike Manning's house, where they separated into two teams and vowed to drop some serious pounds - of carbon dioxide emissions. The teams, led by Green Marlborough founder Jennifer Boudrie and Manning, will be the first households in the city to take part in a "Low Carbon Diet" to drastically reduce their carbon imprint.

Manning and Boudrie explained that they were first exposed to the diet through their involvement in an "ecochallenge" led by Dan Ruben, a Newton-based environmental activist and executive director of Boston Green Tourism. Ruben was the guest speaker at the Feb. 7 meeting.

"I reduced my electricity consumption by 40 percent and my gas usage by 70 percent," Ruben said, "and I still live a middle-class lifestyle."

With the goal of new team leaders emerging from the groups he leads, Ruben was happy to help Boudrie and Manning, two of his former team members, initiate their own teams.

"This [starting a new group] is great," Ruben said. "The last eco-team I led resulted in four new teams."

"We need to educate and empower other people so they will eventually start other groups," Boudrie said.

"There are 37,700 people in Marlborough; we have our work cut out for us," Manning added.

Before resorting to expensive solutions like buying solar panels, new appliances and replacement windows, Ruben suggested starting small.

"First you need to tighten up [your house] and reduce your energy usage," he said.

"Most homes have enough holes in them [to be the] equivalent to having a three-foot by three-foot window open at all times," Manning explained.

It might be boring compared to solar panels, Manning said, but installing weather stripping on windows and doors, caulking around seams, changing light bulbs, and checking the wattage of various appliances and unplugging some will make the biggest and most cost-eff ective diff erence.

Manning, who had thought his home, built in 1996, was already "green," was surprised by an energy audit that exposed several areas that needed to be tightened up. The bulkhead, doors, windows, vents, ceiling lights and hairline cracks are all prime culprits.

According to Manning, National Grid and NSTAR customers, both homeowners and businesses, can get an annual free in-home energy audit. Sign up through www. masssave.com.

Boudrie, who has already put her house on an energy diet, said she dropped her home's electricity usage from 500 kilowatt-hours (kwh) per month to 200 kwh. The biggest change, she said, is that she no longer uses her dryer, but rather hangs her clothes on a wooden rack.

"I still use the dishwasher; I am on my computer all day, but I replaced my light bulbs, unplugged appliances and tightened up my house," she said.

Armed with energy workbooks, teammates will now calculate their own houses' energy consumption and start reducing.

"Although we should be sober to the reality of keeping our civilization going during global warming," Ruben said, "this is a very exciting time."