Here in Maine, a state with vast quantities of firewood, people are struggling to heat their homes. I read a heart-wrenching article in the New York Times about it this past weekend, and have been hearing similar stories in the local media the past few months.
Maine’s older housing stock is fitted mainly with oil-burning furnaces. Many of those residing in these homes are older, others are simply poor, and very few have the financial wherewithal to change systems. Meanwhile, oil prices continue to rise, and cuts at the state & federal levels in heating-assistance subsidies mean the very neediest Mainers are having to make terrible choices. Like whether to buy food or fuel.
As someone easily impressed by things like salt free food and wild turkeys, you can imagine how taken in I was by the (nearly) $2.5 million facility above. With its gigantic screens and its dark lighting and shiny metal kiosks, I felt like I’d stepped right onto the set of CSI! But instead of being ordered to stand behind the camera, the