Some people have enjoyed the warm winter we just experienced — not having to bundle up or shovel as much, and perhaps having lower energy bills. Others recognize the temperatures as a very real sign of climate change. And as a result, they’re more determined than ever to reduce their carbon footprint.
Amber Westerman is one of those people. She designed and built her home in Spring Green, describing the 1200-square-foot, light-filled home a mashup of rustic and modern.
A galley kitchen that spills into open living and dining areas represents the heart of the home.
Westerman has worn a lot of hats over the years in addition to studying and practicing architectural drafting. “I’ve worked for architects, engineer, contractors, I sold building materials,” she says.
Now, she’s dedicated to showing that if you want to build, you can do it affordably and right by the planet.
“And I began to have open houses cause I wanted people engaged in this idea of a small, super-insulated, all electric, net zero, non-toxic house," she says.
Westerman successfully built what she calls a modest home. And without sending any building materials to a landfill.
Westerman points out her window to show off one of the structure’s features. “So, this is how thick the wall is—12 inches, which is the structural wall, and then you build another 2x4 wall on the inside—all you’re trying to do is make a thick cavity wall,” she says.
The cavity is densely packed, and insulation fills the cavity. “It’s ground-up newsprint, recycled. So it’s a byproduct of the paper industry,” Westerman says. That adds up to a top-notch thermal envelope. “When you do that, you spend more money on the insulation up front, but then you downsize your mechanical systems,” Westerman says.
She has no furnace. A heat pump handles her heat and air conditioning needs. Despite fluctuating conditions outside, Westerman says her home has remained comfortable and her energy costs consistently low.
I met Maria, who asked that we not use her last name in Waukesha. When she and her husband bought their first home here — a 1500 square-footer built in the 1950s — their longterm goal was to reach net zero.
“We were doing research on solar panels. We had some saving for projects,” Maria says.
But as they were about to move into the house, the family discovered many mice had made it their home. Maria says suddenly plans were on fast forward. In three months, “We had to get the whole house resealed, reinsulated, all of it,” she says.
Maria teaches public health at a local university. She’d incorporated the Inflation Reduction Act in her teaching. Now she was taking a crash course on how it could help her family.
“I didn’t know insulation was covered with the Inflation Reduction Act. But as I found out we needed new insulation, I did the research, talked with the company, found vendors that were a little bit familiar with it, and then went from there,” Maria says.
Like Amber Westerman, Maria’s family heats and cools their home with a suitcase-sized heat pump.
This winter may have been mild, but who knows what the next might bring. She points to a backup in the living room.
“So, this is a high-efficiency wood-burning stove. It’s little, but it is ultra-efficient, so it does qualify for the 30% tax rebate. You can also cook on it if the power goes out, and it heats the whole house. So, it pays for itself in about four-and-a-half years,” Maria says.
Additionally, Maria's family got their solar panels.
On Milwaukee’s south side, Amelia Navarro Olea owns a century old home.
She came to an energy efficiency workshop hosted by Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers. Attendees went home with armloads of LED lightbulbs, water heater insulation blankets and powerstrips.
Navarro Olea says she wants to replace the windows in her house. Yesi Perez with Sixteenth Street translates.
“She says that her home is pretty old, and the windows are very, very old. They have grandchildren, their family has grandchildren right now, so just automatically what she thinks of is the world they’ll live in. Maybe we won’t be able to change the whole entire world, but it’s something we can change as a family,” Perez says.
Erick Shambarger says by next July Milwaukee will have a program to assist families like Amelia Navarro Olea. Shambarger heads the City’s Environmental Collaboration Office.
“We’ll be hiring resilience ambassadors in those neighborhoods that have the highest energy burden to help unlock the financial resources that the federal government is now providing to do this kind of work,” Shambarger says.
His team has set a goal. “So with our combination of lead abatement and energy efficiency, we have a target to get 100 homes done. Ultimately, we need to get thousands of homes done,” Shambarger says.
Amelia Navarro Olea and families across the region just navigated a winter warmer than no other.
WUWM will be keeping an eye on how far partnerships and Inflation Reduction Act dollars take us in buoying communities for winters and seasons to come.
