Host’s Name(s): Steve Fluet Location: Leominster, MA 464 Abbott Ave

Description of site:
Trustees of Reservations Doyle Conservation Center: This is a Green Building where 30-45 minute tours are conducted on a regular basis. More information is available at www.ttor.org. The Doyle Conservation Center features geothermal source heating, energy efficient building design, PV panels, composting toilets, and recycled and renewable materials in both the building construction and the furnishings.

Availability for visits:

During work hours 8am-5pm

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

Tours average 30-40 minutes. There is local hiking at Leominster State Forest, Monoosnoc Trail and Sholan Farms

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Steve at (978) 840-4446 Ext. 1913 8am or after 4:30pm

Directions:

From the West: Take Route 2 East to Exit 31A/Route 12 South. At the first set of lights turn right onto Lindell Avenue. Continue approximately .75 miles and turn right onto Abbott Avenue. The Doyle Conservation Center will be on the left.
From the East: Take Route 2 West to Exit 31A/Route 12 South. At the first set of light turn right onto Lindell Avenue. Continue approximately .75 miles and turn right onto Abbott Avenue. The Doyle Conservation Center will be on the left.

Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Description of site:

Our house features a grid-tied 4.8-kilowatt photovoltaic system installed on a south-facing roof. Electricity produced from the sun provides about half of our family's electricity usage.

Availability for visits:

We are available seasons on weekends only. We can accommodate ; 4-6 visits per school year.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

None

To arrange a visit and interview:

 Call Bob at (978) 779-6597

Directions:

Host recommends using MapQuest or to call and ask for directions.

Host’s Name(s)  Gary Tuthill Location: Boylston, MA 73 Rocky Pond Road

Description of site:

Our house is the Septimber House. It a single family, seven sided waterfront timber frame home. The house has great views of a nice pond. It has big windows on the south side for solar heat and a woodstove and thick insulation help keep it warm. The waste water system is special and requires efficient water use. There are also spiral stairs, a ladder to a loft, skylights, and many large wood beams. This house is an experiment in living comfortably while preserving the environment.

Availability for visits:

Anytime with advanced notice.    

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

Parking at the house is limited to two cars or so, additional parking is at the boat ramp about 100 yards away. The house is still under construction. Occupancy expected by the end of 2005. The house is not expected to be finished for a while. Until then the house next door has bathroom, water etc.. Tower Hill Botanical Garden is about 2 miles away; Davidians farm stand and ice cream is available during the summer; Tougas pick-your-own fruit farm (in season) along with canoeing/kayaking, swimming, ice skating on Rocky Pond (in season); New England Forestry Foundation properties around Rocky Pond; hiking and nature study.

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Gary at (508) 869-0139 or email gjt888@charter.net

Directions:

Ask when making arrangements.

Description of site:

Our house is heated and cooled by geothermal energy taken from the ground. We make electricity with solar panels.          

Availability for visits:

Any time is good.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

To arrange a visit and interview:

Email Thaddeus Szkoda at FreeEnergy@verizon.net.

Directions:

From Route 20 in Charlton: At the intersection of Route 20 and 31, take Route 31 North, go one block to 4-way stop, take a right onto Stafford Street, go approximately 2 miles and 232 Stafford Street will be on your right after a curve in the road. The Charlton Country store is across the street 200 feet on the left. The house is yellow and sits on top of a hill in an open field about 1000 feet off the main road.

Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Host's Name(s): Karen Sawyer           Location: Fitchburg, MA 1 Oak Hill Road

Description of site:

Come see the largest commercial photovoltaic installation in New England at a mill in Fitchburg, MA. See www.massinnovation.com for great images of the PV project.  This is a site that is for many different things, right now there is a high school there and later we hope to have about 80 apartments for people to live in, and retail stores and offices.

Availability for visits:

Weekdays are best       

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

There is an Art museum, a McDonalds, and plenty of other places to visit.  Go to www.massinnovation.com  and go to Projects, then Fitchburg, and then in the About Use link go to Community. Here you will find a list of near by places that you might want to visit in our community.

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Stanley Smith at (978) 833-0553.

Directions:

Ask when making arrangements.

Host’s Name(s): Rob Rizzo Location: Gardner, MA 444 Green Street

Description of site:

Mount Wachusett Community College is a very environmentally friendly college. We utilize biomass energy for our heat, solar panels to make electricity, and we are currently in the planning process for the construction of a wind turbine. We are also currently installing a biomass gasification system that will allow us to convert wood chips to make electricity. We have also completed millions of dollars in energy conservation measures to make sure that the energy that we do use is not wasted. We offer a degree and certificate program in Natural Resources and we now have courses on renewable energy.

Availability for visits:

Anytime, no limit on the number of visits per season.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

The town of Gardner has the typical assortment of food establishments and the College has a cafeteria.       

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Rob at (978) 630-9137 or email Rob at rrizzo@mwcc.mass.edu

Directions:

From Fitchburg and points east: Take Route 2 West to Route 140 North (Exit24B) in Westminster, just past Tyco plant on right (50 miles from Boston). The exit sign reads: 140 North to Winchendon and Ashburnham. Proceed three miles on this route. You will pass through two traffic lights. Proceed one-half mile past the second light and take a left turn onto Matthews Street. The college entrance is one mile on the right.

From Western Massachusetts: Take Route 2 East to exit 23 (Gardner, S. Gardner). Go three-quarters of the way around the rotary to Pearson Boulevard, headed north. Follow signs to Heywood Hospital. At first set of lights, take a right onto Elm Street. Continue past the Gardner Public School (you'll see a giant chair on the lawn) to next rotary. Proceed straight ahead through rotary and follow signs to MWCC. Continue past Heywood Hospital on your left. From the hospital, the college's Green Street entrance will be about one-third mile on your right.

From Worcester and Providence: Take I-190 North from Worcester. From I-190, take Route 2 west to Route 140 north (Exit 24B) in Westminster, just past Tyco plant on right. Exit sign reads: 140 north to Winchendon and Ashburnham. Proceed three miles on this route. You will pass through two traffic lights. Proceed one-half mile past the second light and take a left turn onto Matthews Street. The college entrance is one mile on the right.

From points north: Take Route 12 south to Route 140 south. Bear right onto Green Street. The college is one-half mile on the left.

Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Host’s Name(s): Tom and Lisa Gaskill Location: Hardwick, MA 194 Delargy Road

Description of site:

We use solar energy in three ways. We make electricity and hot water using different kinds of panels on the roof, and our house is specially constructed to take advantage of the sun for heat.   

Availability for visits:

Any mutually agreeable time is ok., We are faculty members at a private high school, so most of our vacations coincide with public schools and we may be available. Evenings (it's not much fun to see solar stuff in the dark, but towards spring and summer that works), and most weekends are ok too.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

We have two indoor cats that should not be let outside.
It is rather rural here, there is not much out this way, but there is a country store, which has ice cream nearby. If you happen to be working on a geology or a related badge we may be able to help you with that too.

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call my home phone after 5 pm or weekends (413) 477-0107

Directions:

From route 32A in Hardwick center, go north to the cemetery on the right and take the right fork onto North Road, take the second right onto Taylor Hill Road, take the first left onto Delargy Road. We are the 4th house on the right, gray with maroon shutters with matching barn, set back from the road.

Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Description of site:
Dragonback is a private home built on a rocky cliff and heated by the sun for the past 24 years. We live in the woods surrounded by preserved land where foxes, deer, raccoons, hawks, weasels, and fishers all live. Coyotes yip and owls hoot on summer nights. At the bottom of the cliff is a type of pond called a vernal pool. Before it dries up every summer, its big, and provides a home for all kinds of frogs, salamanders, water bugs, and something called fairy shrimp. Some of these kinds of animals could go extinct if it weren’t for these ponds. In the very early spring wood frogs quack loudly just like ducks, they make so much noise! For 24 years we have enjoyed the sun heating our house and the water we use. When the sun shines, its money saved in the bank for us. We love our solar house!

Availability for visits:

We would welcome inquiries and are flexible about the number of visits during the school year. Friday afternoons and weekends are the times we have available. Be sure to make arrangements in advance.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

Our driveway is long and in very snowy, icy weather it can be difficult for anyone without front-wheel drive.

Some of the town's conservation land trails are lovely to walk, particularly Bowers Springs, on the border of Harvard and Bolton. Harvard has a beautiful town common, suitable for sledding. We have an Apple Blossom Festival on the Common the second Saturday in May (check on this date, I am pretty sure, but.) Also, the entrance for the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge is in Harvard.
 

To arrange a visit and interview:
Call (978) 456-3907 in the mornings after 8am.

Directions:

Ask when making arrangements.

Description of site:

The house is in a rural setting on a former dairy farm. Fourteen solar panels mounted on the south side of the roof provide solar energy. That energy is converted from direct current to alternating current and feeds the house. The extra goes into the grid. This building received a design and construction grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust. The installation was performed by Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics.

Availability for visits:

Visit availability is variable and flexible.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

Nearby, groups might want to plan a hike at the Quabbin, 10 miles to the west, or the Mid-state trail, 10 miles to the east. There is also an ice cream stand at the Clover Hill Country store on route 32 in Hardwick.

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Stephen or Octavia at (508) 867-9288 or email OTAYLOR@clarku.edu

Directions:

From the south, west, or east: Approach through the town of West Brookfield. Turn off Route 9 onto New Braintree Road in front of the church at the north end of West Brookfield town common. The name of the road changes to West Brookfield Road when it crosses the New Braintree line three miles later. We are another mile into New Braintree, 790 West Brookfield Road, on the left side. We have a white house, red barn, and chain-saw\family tree\ sculpture in the front yard.

From the north: Take Route 67 south. Turn right just before the stone country store, and continue 1 mile to church at the center of New Braintree. There turn left on West Brookfield Road. We are a mile down the hill, on the right.
Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Host’s Name(s): Brayton and Suzanne Shanley Location: Ware, MA 2062 Greenwich Rd

Description of site:

Agape Community is located on 32 acres of land in the Quabbin watershed. We build and maintain our own houses, grow our own organic food, offer programs on nonviolence and conflict resolution and have retreats and programs on sustainability, inviting classes, schools, colleges and peace groups to learn about a green community. Brigid House is a straw bale house with solar energy, and a composting toilet. We drive a "grease" car, all of which will be a part of the demonstration. We are Christian community, but we do not discuss our spiritual base with groups that do not have a context for this. People should not be concerned that there will be anything but the most open and welcoming communication without any religious emphasis except the reality of that being the premise of our founding. It has never been a problem with other groups from public school students to homeschoolers.

Availability for visits:

We would be open to negotiating this with the callers. We have college interns who can assist us with the visits, so we would be able to accommodate several visits.

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

Dress appropriately for the season, and, of course, we cannot take responsibility for accidents or personal injury and that should be very clear before students come. We have a great small town restaurant with accommodations for sandwiches, with a great candy store and a lovely atmosphere. We could call ahead and let them know how many are coming and they would be delighted to have you. Otherwise, we would accommodate folks here in our large community house with brown bag lunches.

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call Brayton and Suzanne at (413) 967-9369

Directions:

Directions are on the Agape web site, www.agapecommunity.org
Note: When making arrangements, be sure to double check directions with the host.

Description of site:

Worcester Common Ground Inc.: We have efficient boilers/burners and insulation. We plan to clean up a Brownfield site in the spring, its not exactly clean energy but its good environmental stuff.

Availability for visits:

Weekdays are best, please call ahead.       

Considerations and opportunities noted by host:

To arrange a visit and interview:

Call my work number (508) 754-0908 or email Steve at spatton@wcg-cdc.com

Directions:

Contact host for directions.