Green & Clean

October 4, 2007
This article appeared in the The Advocate Weekly

Sixteen area homes and businesses will open their doors on Saturday to show guests how they incorporate energy saving technology into their designs.

Some of those businesses welcome guests on a daily basis.

The Topia Inn on Pleasant Street in Adams is one stop on the Center for Ecological Technology's 2007 Green Buildings Open House Tour. The inn's co-owner said she is looking forward to the chance to show off not only Topia's solar heating and Energy Star appliances but also the non-toxic environment that makes the inn unique.

"Generally when people 'go green,' they think in terms of energy efficiency - lights and solar panels and all that - but they don't go as far into non-toxic materials as we have," Nana Simopoulos said.

Guests at the Topia sleep on organic mattresses, enjoy interesting room motifs highlighted by walls adorned with non-toxic clay, and walk around either in stocking or bare feet or shoes covered by "booties" to keep potential contaminants outside.

Through their efforts to create a pure environment, Simopoulos and partner Caryn Heilman became acquainted with West Stockbridge artist Karen Andrews, who will exhibit photos from her exhibit "The Forest and the Factory" at Topia beginning Saturday through Dec. 31.

"In (nearby) Cafe Topia, we've had exhibits, but this will be the very first one in the inn," Simopoulos said. "The photos will be displayed in the hallways on the first and second floor and will be viewable during the open house and also daily to the public between 11 and 2."

The Topia Inn held its own open house when it opened in July, but Saturday's event will allow visitors to see it as part of a wider "green" effort throughout the Berkshires.

The CET tour features stops from Williamstown (the home of Margot and Bill Moomaw) down to Great Barrington (the Vlcek and Allard residences and Barrington Brewery) and across the state line into New Lebanon, N.Y. (Darrow School).

All the participants utilize green technology - everything from the geothermal wells used for heating and cooling at the North Adams Library to the 228 photo-voltaic panels that collect the sun's rays atop the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams.

The CET will get things started with a pre-tour kickoff on Friday, Oct. 5, at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. Moomaw, a professor at Tufts University and member of the CET board of directors, will talk about the net-zero energy use home he and his wife are building on Henderson Road.

The home produces as much energy as it consumes, Moomaw said in CET's open house brochure. A photo-voltaic panel array and a ground source heat pump take the place of fossil fuels, of which the Moomaws use none.

Buildings like the Moomaw residence can motivate others to find ways to save energy in their lives, CET Associate Director Nancy Nylen said in a news release announcing the tour.

"Many people believe that our country's energy problems, global warming and fuel costs are beyond our control," she said. "But the Green Buildings Open House shows specific steps we can all take to make a difference. The chance to talk with those who already have done so is inspiring and will show how everyone can have a positive effect on these global issues."

At the Topia Inn, the operation is not quite "fossil fuel free," but the proprietors are always looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

"We got help from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to install a roof-integrated, 4.2-kilowatt photovoltaic system to power about a quarter of the building's energy," Simopoulos said. "After that we bought some boilers that were able to handle biodiesel. ... One hundred percent soybean oil is harder to get nowadays, but it's something that will be more and more accessible. ... From Brown Oil in (Dalton) we're getting a product that is one percent diesel and 99 percent soybean oil.

"I'd like to make this building even greener. We would love to add solar hot water. Once we generate some income, we're hoping to do that in the near future."

IF YOU GO:
The Center for Ecological Technology's 2007 Green Buildings Open House will take place at various sites throughout the region at different times on Saturday, Oct. 6. Tours at Adams' Topia Inn will be available at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. For a complete list of sites and times, call 413-445-4556, ext. 25, or visit cetonline.org.