Josh Vaughn and Paul McKnight with Habitat ReStore and EFS Energy

 

Note: We did run into some technical difficulties during this recording but we wanted to share with you all the great things we were able to capture.

Josh Vaughn is General Manager at Habitat ReStore who’ve been around since 1997. At Habitat ReStore they take new and used building and remodeling supplies and sell them through their 2 ReStore’s locations at a discount to the public. Then use the funds generated through the sale to help build the Habitat homes in St. Louis. And as of now, they are building 4 homes with the proceeds generated by Habitat Restores per year. Through their program most of the items they get donated to them would otherwise go to landfill because it’s unwanted, so what they do is take in the products and since 97’ diverted about 33 thousand tons of waste.  

 Paul McKnight Owner of EFS Energy, a solar power company installing solar panels on residential and commercial buildings. “It’s always important to conserve energy as well as produce your own.” Why is Solar the way to go? A lot of people are just happy not to pay their electric bill anymore. That’s not always the case, it is supplemental to your usage but you can offset 100% of your usage in some cases a lot of times you aim to do so 80/90% then do some energy efficient upgrades at the same time to get you the rest of the way. Do you think solar looks ugly? Many people don’t want to see the solar panels on their roofs and HOA’s and Historic districts don’t want them visible from the street or sidewalk. Originally it did look ugly, but as it progressed the solar electric panels with the blue mutigli cinin look to them and now most of them are a dark blue almost black with hidden rails so they can look nice on the roof and most people don’t even notice them. With solar becoming more mainstream, HOA’s are going to start adapting. It is all advancing really quickly. The cost of equipment has dropped so dramatically just in the last 5 years when Paul Started the company they were installing for $7 a watt and within 3 years they were at $4 a watt almost half and that’s just equipment cost. Even tho some rebates have gone away, you still get 30% federal tax credit and with the equipment cost coming down it has started to make sense for a lot of people and also offer special financing. Visit them at EFSEnergy.com  

 

RESOURCES:

EFSEnergy.com

Contact EFSEnergy

Find a Certified Installer

Habitat Restore

Find a Habitat Restore near you

Find Green Gab on Facebook

Find Green Home Coach on Facebook

About the Company

A Everyday Green Home Podcast – Recorded Live at the St. Louis Home & Garden Show 

Don’t forget to go check out our Facebook page for all pictures of this awesome event.

 

Every week on iTunes and on the Everyday Green Home Podcast, get the gab with us as we share what we’ve done, as well as tips for greening up your home, your job, your family and your life! Get in on the gab for why green matters – to you, your family and friends and your community.
Get Marla’s book Living Green Effortlessly: Simple Choices to a Better HomeFor more information about the show, Marla at marla@greenhomecoach.com or Tony at tpratte@thesoundroom.comI’d love to speak at your next event – for ideas check out my speaking information. Thank you and have a blessed day.