Green living starts at home

Dave DeSantis of Milton has nearly eliminated electricity costs by relying on solar panels on the south-facing roof of his home. (sustainable milton)

The first thing you notice in Dave DeSantis's garage is a red Volkswagen Jetta with letters on the back that say: "This car runs on recycled vegetable oil." If you walk around the back of his house, you'll see the south-facing roof covered in 72 solar panels that collect energy from the sun and convert it into power: His electric bill, which was running about $300 a month, has been all but eliminated. In fact, in the summer the panels produce more electricity than his household uses, so he gets a surplus balance to use during the winter.

The family seldom uses the clothes dryer. "It's one of the largest consumers of electricity in your home," says DeSantis, who lives in Milton with his wife, Kathy, and their son, Mark. Instead, they hang their wash on racks. And they make sure their dishwasher is full before they turn it on.

They take smaller steps, too, such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and using the microwave more often than the stove and oven: much more energy efficient.

And DeSantis is in the process of installing a wind turbine between the house and garage, to harness wind power, strong even on cloudy days. The neighbors are agreeable - they won't be able to see the windmill's base - and the town has been helpful throughout the permitting process. DeSantis is waiting until the ground thaws in the spring to erect it.

At a recent open house, Milton residents were invited to see what a "green" or "sustainable" house looks like, and were urged to make a contribution to the New England Wind Fund. If by April 30 enough households make a contribution - the money goes to support wind turbine projects in New England - the town will receive a small solar energy panel for a public building such as a school. The campaign is sponsored by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a state agency that promotes renewable energy. A citizens group, Sustainable Milton, is spearheading the drive.

Laurie MacIntosh, who heads the group, says that if a parent-teacher organization can organize a drive and get at least 150 people to contribute by the deadline, they might get a solar panel system for their school, depending on the structure of the roof and its southern exposure. Though the small system would not make a huge dent in the electric bill, the educational opportunity would be immense.

"I've heard that there's software that monitors the electrical production, and even for elementary kids, seeing how much is produced on a sunny day versus a partly cloudy day versus raining versus hot versus cold would be valuable," says MacIntosh.

And since their generation is going to be cleaning up the mess left by ours, such hands-on learning is essential.

Dave DeSantis's environmental education came after watching "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warming. "I was thinking about the future and our son, and all of our nieces and nephews," says DeSantis, a realtor who owns and manages properties in the Taunton area. "We wanted to protect our children's future."

The first thing he and his wife did was replace their gas-fed cars with diesel vehicles, including a truck and van DeSantis uses in his business. Then he lined up several restaurants in Taunton that were only too willing to part with their used vegetable oil. With a processor in his garage, he converts the grease into biodiesel fuel, which produces half the carbon dioxide of gasoline, no sulfur, and few nitrates. He also converts grease into biodiesel, which helps heat a 12-unit apartment building he owns.

In his Jetta, DeSantis had the spare tire removed and a second tank installed for the recycled vegetable oil. Fuel now costs him nothing and he gets 40 miles per gallon. But his car smells like french fries, which, luckily, he happens to like.

All of this - the solar panels, the car conversions, the windmill - is costing him a lot of money upfront. DeSantis says that will be made up over the years in low bills and that more importantly, it's all eco-friendly. He knows not everyone can go as green as he has. "The point is, if everyone was a little more conservative about their monthly energy bills, it would help. There are little things you can do. Energy prices aren't going to drop; they're only going to increase."

Thirteen-year-old Mark DeSantis has become adept at describing how the green home and cars work. And he's excited about the wind turbine. "We can put electricity back into the grid, which means we make more than we use, and it's all green energy. It fights global warming on a small scale, but it's a good start."

If you can't go to the green extremes that the DeSantis household has, there are smaller steps to take, according to a flier put out by Sustainable Milton. They include adjusting your thermostat up 2 degrees in the summer and down 2 in the winter; turning off lights when not in use and installing compact fluorescent bulbs; setting the thermostat on your water heater at 120 degrees; letting your dishes air dry; cleaning refrigerator coils at least twice a year; taking shorter showers (no baths); driving slower; using laptops instead of desktops; unplugging chargers when not in use; and buying local produce rather than items trucked in from a distance. A free energy audit of your house by the utility company is a good place to start.

As for DeSantis, he isn't through yet. "I'm thinking about putting in a cistern so we can use rain to water our lawn," he says.

Columnist Bella English of Milton can be reached at english@globe.com.