Michelle LaBrosse, PMP

I have been in Connecticut the past two months expanding the markets for Cheetah Power. It’s been an exciting ride and we landed a huge opportunity to organize the Green Pavilion for the NBC Health and Wellness Festival October 16th and 17th at the Hartford Convention Center.

What has been especially exciting is seeing how well Connecticut is doing with respect to setting energy policies and incentives to help individuals and businesses adopt more energy efficient practices. In a recent report issued by the Center for American Progress, shows that Connecticut ranks number one nationwide in adopting progressive measures for energy efficiency.

At Cheetah Power, we don’t just talk sustainability, we live sustainability.   We took the Connecticut corporate retreat center property and have installed a 6kw solar photovoltaic system (we received a $9000 credit from the State of Connecticut to install the system and a 30% tax rebate from the Federal Government reducing the cost to install the system by over 40%).   We reduced the energy consumption of this property by converting the electric hot water tank to instant on propane water heaters.  Replaced the 25 year old air conditioners with high efficiency air conditioners.   Removed an old hot tub that was not being used but had been kept running so it wouldn’t be damaged.   Replaced an aging pump on the pool filter that was drawing far too much electricity than needed to work at less than optimal performance. We replaced the light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs and LED lights (where they made the most sense to use) and put all the systems that were on continually on easy to turn off power strips to turn off when not needed (reduced phantom power loads). In the summer time, when the electrical consumption was the highest on this property, the bills have decreased by 3/4 with these measures in place.

We are also installing sealed gas fireplaces in the two fireplaces that currently exist for the most part to just suck warm air out their stacks in the winter, have a weatherization maintenance plan in place and expect to reduce the heating costs by at least 30%.

Additionally to improve the properties overall sustainability and to increase our contribution to the community’s sustainability, we planted a garden that grows the produce used at the corporate retreat events, and are planning on orchard to contribute to the local CSA’s.

In several countries in Europe there is now a classification for people who are allergic to Electro Magnetic Force (EMF) - the greater the amount of electricity flowing through a power line, the greater the levels of EMF. Living close to high transmission power lines or electrical substations has been implicated in childhood cancer. For folks who develop EMF intolerance though, even low amounts of EMF - that emitted from a cell phone or a computer, becomes debilitating. My question is - was the overload though caused from these much larger energy transmission systems that put out far more EMF than the human body has evolved to handle? Yes the sun emits EMF - but that is a stable amount that we have been conditioned with as part of evolution.

EMF is not something we can see, but many people can feel it. Take a fluorescent tube under high voltage electrical lines and watch it light up just by being near the lines. They put out that much energy. And this represents energy losses as well - that is electricity that is being lost on the way to being useful. Not only is it making some people sick, it’s not even being delivered.

When you create energy closer to where it is needed, you decrease losses, create less of it and reduce the negative impacts of large amounts of EMF exposure.