Welcome - Join the Discussion
Please... Introduce Yourselves - Tell Us Why You're Here!
Hi Folks, There are now about 100 folks following our work on Rebuilding Suburbia. I’d kind of like to know who’s looking over my shoulder! Why you’re here, what you’re hoping to learn. What you’re hoping to accomplish in your own community. What you’re already doing, and might have to offer to us, here on the ground in Nagog, and/or to folks in other communities. Please… jump in!
Hi Miles,
I've taken a stab at explaining my interests in this topic and where I hope to contribute to addressing the challenges of rebuilding suburbia...
Over the past 3 decades, my profession has been as an internetworking consultant focusing on resilient networks and security. For the 2010-2020 decade, I spent the majority of my efforts on designing, building, and operating a highly resilient network for public safety agencies in the metro Boston region. This project supported thousands of "IoT" devices, including cameras, radios of various types, alerting systems, power management equipment, etc.
On the home front, my wife and I began our journey two years ago to take our house fully electric, with the goal of eliminating all consumption of methane gas. So far, we have deployed a whole-house battery energy storage system (BESS) and a geothermal system for heating and cooling. The geothermal system comprises two heat pumps and three geothermal boreholes of ~500 feet drilled into our driveway. In support of these new deployments, I have run multiple conduits for electrical, data, and refrigerant lines. I've also built some new internal firewalls and expanded our mechanical room where the heat pumps are located. Our attic has been converted to a conditioned space with spray foam in the rafters, and we've dealt with various other problems with exterior doors, windows, and wood rot.
In undertaking these home upgrade projects, I have applied my professional experience to achieve resilience in the face of climate threats and deficiencies in the electric grid. I'm also taking steps to remediate the sad state of IoT network security that comes with every new system needing to talk to the Internet for the primary benefit of the manufacturer.
What I have come to recognize is that retrofitting American homes to be all-electric while eliminating use of fossil fuels for heating and cooking is a really hard problem. If this country is going to meet its carbon reduction goals, then we need new approaches to dealing with the daunting challenge of retrofitting our homes while living in them.
I am consequently looking for ways to share our experiences with others who have taken on retrofitting projects, or who plan to. To the extent that sharing can inform better planning for retrofits, then that could represent modest progress. At the same time, we could inform policymakers on the challenges that need to be overcome and perhaps help establish more effective policies and related programs to foster the changes that will be necessary.
...Chuck Wade
<thisoldneighborhood@chuck-wade.com>
508 277-6439