Todd and Suzy live in Danby. Their devotion as parents of two daughters extends to the chickens, dogs, and cats that live on their country property. They both are artists and have a home pottery studio and basement workspace. Todd makes and repairs guitars and is getting back to pottery and Suzy works in pastels, watercolors, and clay.

Because they are deeply concerned about the climate crisis, they wanted their 2002 home to be as green as possible and that is reflected in their choice of building materials and installing rooftop solar panels when they had the house built and later had a ground-mounted array added. The solar power supplies about half of their electricity.

Nevertheless, their main source of heating was wood and even though it is a renewable source of energy it is still polluting. This was supplemented by a propane boiler and hot water baseboards. They wanted to replace the propane boiler. They contacted HeatSmart Tompkins and ultimately had a ground source heat pump installed with two interior wall units. They went so far as to remove their propane tank and in keeping with their values replaced their propane cookstove with an induction stovetop.

Todd is very thankful he doesn’t have to work so hard getting, cutting, and stacking firewood! In addition, Todd and Suzy enjoy the benefits of a more evenly comfortable house because of the thermostats, and the cooling that the wall-mounted units provide in the summer. They are so happy to be living their values in terms of the role they play on our planet.