Community Connections, March, 1991 Page 15
Lesbian Acts on Love of Nature
by Earl Willis
"Last October Betsy Mayers moved into her dream house."
"That’s nice."
"It’s an environmentally friendly house."
"How lovely."
"Her electrical and heating bills in winter are less than $50 a month."
"You’re kidding!"
What is most interesting about the house Betsy built is the degree to which the house
reflects her.
There is nothing unusual about the way the house looks, but there is nothing
particularly unusual about the way Betsy looks. You have to look inside, just like Betsy,
to see the difference. This ordinary enough looking house produces its own hot water,
heat and electricity. The house is quite independent...just like Betsy. The house is
concerned about the environment in which it lives...just like Betsy.
Betsy's house uses sun for power.
Ninety-nine
percent of houses
are supported by
the outer walls.
Betsy’s house is a
post and beam
structure--its
source of strength
is within...just like
Betsy.
The house is
grateful for the
gifts of nature and
uses these gifts in
ways which are
neither harmful nor
wasteful...just like
Betsy. As soon as
the house can, it
intends to produce
enough power to
pump water, and at
that point, it will only be dependent upon nature for its survival and will live in complete
harmony with its natural surroundings.. .just like Betsy.
While Betsy describes her new home on Hoot Owl Hill in technical terms, what she
describes is a sheltering place for herself in a home that, in a way, is itself alive. Like
a healthy human body using healthy food, the house uses sunshine as food to power
itself.
Like the human body, too, the house uses two kinds of energy: passive and active.
Betsy defines "passive" energy as the heat generated from the sun shining through a
window, and "active" as the energy which the house moves about to create power. "An
active energy system," she explained, "is when the heat gained is moved around to
another spot. If you collect the energy on the roof, and then it is moved around to where
it is stored and ready for use, that is an active system."
Sometimes purchased power is used to move hot water, but her system even uses a
solar pump to do this job. This system heats her hot tub.
Her electricity is produced by a photovoltaic system. "It works basically like this,"
she said. "The collectors in this case are totally different from the hot water collector
system. There are two sets of silicon crystals which are sandwiched together. One set
of crystals has a tiny bit of boron which creates a positive charge throughout the crystals.
The other side of the silicon sandwich has a bit of phosphorous which creates a negative
charge. When the sun hits these two crystals, it excites the electrons which flow from
positive to negative into the house wiring, and bingo-you have electricity." The
electricity is stored in batteries for use whenever Betsy flips a switch.
All of this, of course, doesn’t make the power company very happy, because Betsy’s
electrical bills are extremely low, and as soon as she has the additional system added, she
hopes to cut out the power company all together.
Betsy loves the rural life because that is where her roots are--in Huntingdon Valley,
Pennsylvania, her place of birth and childhood. A physical therapist, Betsy moved to the
Western North Carolina mountains from the Boston area two and one-half years ago.
Your choice for Quality Entertainment...Second to none
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(704)258-8729 Marsha Mellow/Show Director
See HOUSE, page 19