I hope to see you all Thursday at 7:30 at St. Andrews Church for October's Highland Park Community Club meeting! In addition to our regular meeting, the program this month will be Conservation Consultants Inc.'s Green Neighborhood Initiative: <http://www.ccicenter.org/programs/gns/residential.html> A representative from this non-profit organization will discuss how homeowners in the 15206 ZIP code can conserve energy and lower their utility bills. I tried it, and I recommend that everyone consider this program. I had a short phone interview to discuss the areas of my house that may need addressing. I was asked what rooms I use the most, whether they were drafty, how old my refrigerator was, and what lights I use the most. This was in preparation for the visit by Bobbi from the Green Neighborhood Initiative. On the day of my appointment, Bobbi arrived with a few tools and lots of information. Bobbi is a pleasant, low-key lady, who was very easy to talk to. She asked me questions about my house. She told me about some things I can do to make it more energy-efficient. She told me about other programs that were available to me. The one thing that I liked was that there is no income requirement for Bobbi to check out my house. None. Although some of the programs she discussed with me are income-based, she never asked what my income was. She showed me a list of the income guidelines and simply asked me if I was eligible. I was never asked to buy anything. I was never told that I need to replace my windows (which, if you know me, is something I never want to do). No pressure. What I got from this was weather strip around my front door, 2 fluorescent light bulbs (to use in the areas I spend the most time in), some spray foam to seal gaps around a window, a test of my refrigerator (it uses $14.45 per month in electricity), a check of the water level in my toilet tank, and a low-flow (high-performance) showerhead. Bobbi did not even balk when I told her she could put the new showerhead in, but she could not take my old one (I like the pressure I get from my showerhead and was not sure about the new one). To my surprise, the new showerhead is great. So I would definitely recommend you have Conservation Consultants Inc. do a survey of your house. Call them at 412-431-4449, and tell them Bob sent you. Bob Staresinic, HPCC President 412-xxx-xxxx