Don’t get me wrong: Steve isn’t a blue-suit corporate type. He’s the kind of guy who rolls up his sleeves and get dirty. For three generations, the small fleet of trucks belonging to Frechette Oil and Backhoe Service have been a familiar sight around the towns and villages of Carroll County, chortling off purposefully to do their work of keeping the community warm all winter long. When his grandfather first got into the business, they delivered coal. In 1967, his father decided to make the change to oil. And now, some 41 years later, Steve’s moving the family business into solar heating. Like most Yankees, it’s important to him that he practices what he preaches. Steve’s first gig? Installing a solar water heater at his own home.

Steve’s decision couldn’t be more timely. The region currently faces nothing less than a full blown crisis driven by heating oil prices that have nearly doubled in the past 12 months. Last year, the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program provided 25 million dollars to 33,000 New Hampshire families. At a meeting of New England governors in Boston last week, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said that double that amount was needed for the coming winter. Even if Washington provides that much funding, the crunch will be acutely felt — especially by middle class families who don’t qualify for federal assistance. Might solar be the answer?

While we waited for the concrete truck to arrive and pour the footings, Steve led me into his basement, bounding down the stairs two at a time. He dove into the basics of the system. An eight foot by five foot solar collector made up of evacuated tubes captures energy from the sun and uses it to heat a closed loop system that is pumped to a heat exchanger in his basement, where it warms the household supply of potable water. A computerized controller regulates the temperature and flow through the use of pumps, and an electric heater stores the hot water and functions as a back up. “In summer, this will produce 100 percent of our hot water, and in winter, probably about 80 percent,” Steve told me. Ironically, the biggest problem is having too much hot water, which must be drained off via a relief valve.

Steve estimates that his solar water system will save around 250 gallons of heating oil a year (heating oil currently costs $4.69 in the area… you do the math). Depending on the size of the house, a system runs between 7,000 and 11,000 dollars. “BUT — that’s before the tax rebates”, Steve added with the mischievous sparkle of a salesman. Considering the federal tax incentive (a 30 percent rebate), and many state rebates stacked on top of that (in NH, another 25 percent), a system might pay for itself in only three or four years.

Even to someone who sells oil, this makes a lot of sense. Of course, Steve also sees business opportunity: nobody else in the local community installs solar water systems like this. I asked Steve why more people in the industry haven’t come around to solar technology. “I think a lot of guys were skeptical when it first became available, back in the late 70′s and 80′s,” he answered. “And that was bad technology, with lots of maintenance involved.” He adds that many tradesmen are still wary of installing new, unproven technology — and then backing their work with a twenty or thirty year guarantee. Furthermore, new systems mean taking time off from work to learn how to properly install and maintain them. And finally, you have to be able to sell them. That’s no sure thing in rural New England, where the average income is 37,000 dollars.

Five dollar a gallon gas might be the best thing to ever happen to the green revolution, but there are still plenty of reasons to stay on the sidelines, especially if you happen to be a rural tradesman trying to support a family in middle of the worst economic slump in a generation. Why stick your neck out and make the leap to alternative energy? Steve may be the most optimistic guy in the whole county. And winning the hearts and minds of more guys like Steve — the heating experts who keep you warm, the electricians who wire your house, the mechanics who fix your car — should be the green revolution’s top priority.

As for Steve, he cautions that solar water systems like the one he’s installing can only do so much. “Some of these 5,000 – 6,000 square foot homes that are being built are ridiculous. Even 3,000 square feet is pretty big. People need to start building smaller, and they need to build for maximum southern exposure, not the best view.”

Of course if you’re not interested, Steve will be happy to sell you heating oil, delivered right to your door step, at the going rate of 4.69 a gallon.

Originally published on the Huffington Post on July 13th, 2009.

The cost of home heating oil has increased 80 percent in the last year, and many rural communities are in dire economic shape already. There’s a real possibility that low income families will not be able to afford enough oil to last them through the coldest months, and will have to choose between food, medicine, or a warm home.

Right now there’s no relying on the federal government. For 2009, the White House slashed the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program’s budget by 22 percent, to 1.9 billion dollars. Although a cadre of New England senators have introduced bills to more than double LIHEAP’s funding, additional support is far from assured. On Friday, Senator Judd Gregg proposed legislation that would provide an additional 2.5 billion dollars to LIHEAP, as well as funding for weatherization and home energy tax credits for the middle class. The effort promptly stalled on Saturday when the Senate voted against moving to consider the bill.

Expect to hear a lot more from Washington on this important issue — but the Congressional debate is far removed from the front line communities that are struggling to prepare for what may well be nothing short of a small-scale humanitarian crisis. Locally, town officers and state representatives are beginning to meet with charitable foundations, non-profits organizations, local church groups and home heating professionals. They’re planning public forums, organizing fundraisers, and discussing how to best allocate money. And they have a staggering amount of work to do.

At one such meeting, held in a local fire station, twenty community leaders gathered in a conference room just behind two bright ladder trucks that sparkled in the cool darkness of the station garage. The back door was propped open to facilitate airflow in the muggy July weather, and many in attendance sipped cold soft drinks, but an icy reality undercut the gathering.

The town manager spoke first. She said, by way of introduction, that the town currently has a 1,500 dollar contingency fund for heating aid — about enough money to provide 3 households with 100 gallons of heating oil each. Next, a representative from the county-wide Community Action Programs, the organization that distributes LIHEAP funds, reported to the group. She said that they had already begun to process applications for assistance in a bare bones, women-and-children-first fashion. Those deemed “most vulnerable” — the elderly, the disabled, and those with children under the age of five — could apply for aid now. After September 1st, the gates will be opened to all other households that qualify according to the low income guidelines. But the CAP won’t know until December 1st how much money they actually have to distribute from LIHEAP, leading to considerable concern about enabling people to expect support before the money is secure.

Most of the meeting centered around coordinating local organizations to raise and distribute money as a safety net for those who LIHEAP has to turn away, or who use up their assistance money and still need additional help. It seemed that there were more questions then answers. Would the Rotary Club be willing to act as a clearing house for money raised through donations and fundraisers? Would the funding be limited to residents of the town, or available to the entire county? What about needy families who live just across the border in Maine? Would the money be designated strictly for heating aid, or could it also be used to help buy food? Somebody mentioned that in the nearby village of Sandwich, the three town selectmen had each contributed 500 dollars to create ad-hoc emergency heating fund. As soon as money is taken out of the fund to help a needy member of the community, a new donor is approached to make a contribution, thereby always maintaining a 1,500 balance. Another person asked if town land could be made available to provide free firewood to those who need it. After all, dry hardwood is being advertised on the front page of the local paper for 300 dollars a cord — that itself is a record high price.

The last comment reminded me that despite the dark circumstances currently facing many Americans in the northern US, heating crises are nothing new in this part of the world. As the meeting continued, it struck me that this is what New Englanders have done for hundreds of years — come together town by town, under one roof, to figure out how they will make it through another winter. And in the end, regardless of Congressional stalling or the generosity of Hugo Chavez, that may be what gets us through the winter of 2009.

Originally published on the Huffington Post on July 27th, 2008.