healthylivinghealthyplanet

Easy Tips
to Get Your Home Ready For Winter
by Troy Hodas
With winter approaching, it’s a great opportunity to take some easy steps in improv-
ing the efficiency of your home. Each home is different and will have their own areas
for improvement, but here are some general areas to consider:
1. Air sealing. This is usually a nice and easy way to cost-effectively keep the heat in
the home. Caulks, foams and weather stripping are very manageable and inexpensive
ways to make an impact.
2. Add insulation or reinstall incorrectly installed insulation. Air sealing an attic
and then correctly insulating it can realize significant savings. Many older homes
don’t have any insulation in the basements and hold the potential for improvements
in this area.
3. Heating system tune up. Regular servicing is not only important for equipment
efficiency but also for verifying the equipment is working in a safe manner and is not
negatively contributing to bad indoor air quality (such as leaking combustible gasses
into the home including carbon monoxide).
4. Throw on another layer and use electric wisely. Our own habits hold great po-
tential for savings at no cost. The energy use in two identical homes can vary by over
100 percent due to occupant lifestyles. This is great news. We just need to act on it.
5. Get an energy audit. The big question is how to prioritize what’s going to have
the most impact. An auditor will be able to help you do this through an interview,
physical inspection, and the use of diagnostic testing equipment that’s used to evalu-
ate the home’s performance.
Remember, the house works as a system and any changes made need to be put in
perspective of the whole home and how it will interact and work with other sys-
tems of the home. For a more detailed look at other approaches check out GetEner-
gySmart.com/resources/tips.aspx
Troy Hodas is a certified energy auditor, HERS Rater (CIP), eco-broker and NAR
GREEN designee. He is also a participating builder in the NYS Energy Star Homes
Program. Troy can be reached at 800-4371.
Chocolate Mousse Recipe
¼ cup pitted dates
Healthy Living, Healthy Planet
½ cup fresh blueberries
Networking Events
¼ cup Agave nectar
The 3rd Tuesday of every month
½ tsp. vanilla extract
10:15 am
¼ cup water
Meet and connect with
¾ cup mashed avocados
¼ cup plus 2 tbs. unsweetened cacao
like-minded entrepreneurs
or carob powder
in the natural health and
green living fi elds.
Place dates, blueberries, agave, vanilla, water and cacao or carob powder in a
blender and blend thoroughly on high. Then, add avocado and blend on low until
creamy.
Amazon Juice Bar and Healthy Eatery
Mousse will keep in the refrigerator for three days.
144 Main St, Nyack.
$10 per person
Recipe contributed by Catherine “Moon” Rubin, raw vegan gourmet chef.
For more information, contact Deborah Turner
at publisher@naturalawakeningsro.com.
RawFoodHealthRetreat.com. TheCulinaryAlchemist.wordpress.com.
32 Rockland & Orange Counties www.naturalawakeningsro.com
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