The tall, bearded Mainer is an engineer on an offshore oil drilling ship in the Gulf of Mexico. But when it came time for him to build a home in Southern Maine, Goodson largely bypassed fossil fuels.
<a href=https://tripscan.info>трипскан вход</a>
The house he built is entirely off the grid, powered from rooftop solar and batteries that convert the sun’s energy to electricity. Electrons power much of his two-story home; it is heated and cooled with heat pumps, and Goodson and his wife cook meals on an induction range. Incredibly well-insulated, the entire home is heated by a small wood stove.
https://tripscan.info
трипскан
Goodson loves his new house, even though it has raised the eyebrows of his drilling ship colleagues.
“All the guys at work think I’m crazy,” Goodson said during a recent tour of his home. “They think I’m living in a shack out in the woods somewhere and I go outside to use the toilet, but that’s clearly not the case.”
The house, built by New Hampshire company Unity Homes, is a far cry from a shack. Modern and spacious, it has running water and three bathrooms.
Despite also having initial concerns about her husband’s off-the-grid aspirations, Katie Goodson is a convert as well especially after the lights stayed on during an intense storm that knocked their neighbors’ electricity out.
“I would never go back,” she told CNN. “When I tell co-workers or neighbors that we live off-grid and they see the house, they’re always like, ‘Whoa, this isn’t what I was expecting!’ It’s really fun surprising people; I live a totally normal life.”
The Goodsons are part of a small but growing number of homeowners who are choosing to build energy-efficient “panelized” homes that are pre-made in a factory. The homes are better for the climate, and although they have a high upfront cost, several homeowners say their energy savings, quality of life and overall cost of living has greatly improved since moving in.
<a href=https://tripscan.live>tripscan top</a>
The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon near Ierapetra, a town on the island’s southeast coast, amid unusually high temperatures, 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5.4 to 9 Fahrenheit) above average, and gale-force winds of around 50 miles an hour.
The conditions are creating “new outbreaks, making firefighting work very difficult,” the Fire Department’s press spokesperson, Chief Vasilios Vathrakoyannis, said in a statement Thursday.
https://tripscan.live
tripskan
More than 230 firefighters, along with 46 vehicles and 10 helicopters have been deployed to fight the blaze, according to fire officials.
The flames have spread rapidly, reaching homes as well as hotels and other tourist accommodations.
Authorities asked residents of four settlements to evacuate and move toward Ierapetra. About 1,500 people have been evacuated so far, according to the Greek public broadcaster ERT.
The Ierapetra municipality has converted an indoor training center facility into a makeshift camp, where hundreds of tourists and residents who abandoned their homes spent the night Wednesday.
The police, medical services and the coast guard have all been called to the area.
“We are entering the third and most difficult month of the fire season,” Vathrakoyannis said. July is typically the hottest month in Greece and is often accompanied by strong winds. “These conditions favor the spread of fires and increase their danger,” he said.
Wildfires have ripped through other European countries this week as the continent endures a brutal heat wave.
Tens of thousands were evacuated in Turkey as blazes ripped through the western Izmir and Manisa provinces and southern Hatay province, damaging nearly 200 homes.
Blazes also broke out in France and in Spain, where two people died.
Europe experiences wildfires every year, but they are becoming more intense and frequent due to human-caused climate change, which fuels heat and drought, both helping set the stage for fierce, destructive fires.
