Saying Yes to Alternative Energy - Saying NO to Fracking

A few of years ago we learned about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas at our local, yearly Ithaca Parade. There was a curious float all decked out with anti-fracking signs. It was clear the float was against some kind of fossil fuel energy. It was equally clear that the people walking with the float were wanting to get our attention.

When we returned home, Doug and I began researching fracking. What we discovered was that it was something that was already occurring in many places around the world, including most other States in the US. Many of the dangers of fracking were being revealed publicly by our neighbours in Pennsylvania.

According to Dr Sandra Steingraber, hydraulic fracturing would directly and negatively impact the fresh water supply in our area, and remove hundreds of thousands of fresh water from our water cycle forever:



The Catskill Citizens for Safe Energystated that "despite a three year de facto moratorium on high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, more than 10,000 oil and gas wells have already been fracked in New York State, and that number is growing every day." People were already turning on taps in their homes to find methane coming out:



Not to mention:

* the hidden dangers from cocktail of chemicals (yet to be fully disclosed) that are used by Halliburton in the hydraulic fracturing process,

* the documented negative affects to air quality around the region of the wells,

* the loss in property value to those who lease their land to the gas companies for drilling,

* and the depletion and pollution of our valuable agricultural lands, especially the local family farms that sustain us.

So, to make a long story a little less long, Doug and I set out to turn off our gas. We have finally gotten the Geothermal system installed:

Several months ago we made the decision to install Geothermal in our home.

We were all excited to see the drill arrive. Ironically, this is a similar kind of drill to the ones that drill the fracking wells in our area. Ethan thinks they should all be converted to Geothermal work.

Most of the hoses were in by this point. They needed to be looped together in a trench system, filled with water and non-toxic, biodegradable propylene glycol (an antifreeze), directed into our house, and, finally, looped into the heat exhange pump system on the furnace. It was truly amazing to have heat from the earth coming out of the vents of our house!


This is what the system looks like in our home. It is attached to our hot water tank, because the leftover heat that is generated by the heat exchange unit is used to heat our water, giving us about 80% free hot water as a bonus. Heating and cooling our home (I've never lived in a place with cooling!) should cost us less than $30 per month.

This is where the underground system of tubing come into our home.

Today we signed up to have the gas to our home turned off! How great that felt!

Next step...sustainable electricity. While we do buy a good many wind credits, we still use coal as the primary source of electric power in our area. That also needs to change.