Finally, an alternative that works

via Boston

Alberta Bennett's mission to blaze a pollution-free path is nearly done.

A quarter-century after spending her life savings on a wind-powered turbine for her backyard - it broke shortly after it was installed and hasn't worked since - the Gloucester woman is getting an environmentally friendly home heating and cooling system. The geothermal system is fueled by fluids that are pumped through two wells, each 260 feet below ground, where the earth's temperature is a constant 50 degrees. Workers drilled the wells last week, and the system, largely paid for by a nonprofit agency, is expected to be running by the end of the month.

"Wow, I can't believe this is finally happening," said Bennett, 58, who bundled up in three layers underneath a hooded coat Monday, as she watched a crew drill the wells in near-freezing temperatures.

"I've waited so long for this," she added, "I wanted to see it go in, from start to end."

Bennett had spent years trying to get someone to repair her electricity-generating turbine. Finally, she gave up on wind power, built a greenhouse across the back of her house to help heat it, and started researching geothermal systems. A back injury landed the former nurse on disability in 2000.

Then, two years ago, a nonprofit read about Bennett's long-defunct turbine in Globe North and offered free assistance in fixing it. When that didn't work out, the organization offered to help install another alternative energy source. More complications materialized.

Next came the nonprofit's decision to go with geothermal. Still, there were snags.

"Everybody is idealistic, but it's the details that matter and the details don't always work as cleanly as you want," said Elliott Jacobson, energy director at Action Inc., the nonprofit that came to Bennett's aid. The Gloucester-based anti-poverty agency, in conjunction with another nonprofit, has a state-funded contract to bring alternative energy opportunities to low-income residents across Massachusetts.

Over the past three years, Action Inc. has arranged the installation of solar-powered electricity for 24 low-income residents statewide, and also helped six others receive solar-driven hot water heaters. But Bennett's geothermal system is a first for the nonprofit, and it had a steep learning curve in the permitting process, especially because Gloucester officials, as is the case in many communities, had not yet encountered the technology, Jacobson said.

"If you do it right the first time and nobody's upset, then maybe the second permit takes six weeks, not six months," Jacobson said. "It's always the first one that's the difficult one."

Gloucester Public Health Sanitarian Max Schenk said his department, in addition to the city's engineering department and its Conservation Commission, had no rules or regulations for permitting geothermal systems before Bennett's project was presented to them, so they wanted to proceed carefully. The final permits for Bennett's system were issued last month, but the city has not yet adopted rules for future geothermal projects.

"We want to see this one run through to the end before we put anything in stone," Schenk said. "But at least we have an idea now of what questions we should be asking."

Bennett's system, including installation, cost $30,300, according to Action Inc. Under its state-funded contract, the nonprofit will pay $20,000 and Bennett will pay the rest.

Bennett said she qualified for a $15,000 loan with 1 percent interest to be paid over seven years. In addition to paying her share of the geothermal system, she had to buy a new hot water tank and pay for crews to cut down a willow tree that would have interfered with the system's wells.

Technical specialists working on the project estimate that, compared with Bennett's current electric heating system, her new geothermal setup will produce 9 fewer tons of carbon dioxide each year. That's the equivalent, they say, of what 1.5 cars would produce in a year. According to their calculations, it will also generate significantly fewer nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, which contribute to smog and acid rain.

Twenty-five years ago, when Bennett remortgaged her small house to pay for her ill-fated wind turbine, there were no programs or special low-interest loans to help homeowners install alternative energy systems, she said. Today, there are many.

"Maybe for other people now, it won't be so difficult," she said.