Rail service to Boston has a lot more utility than rail service in Vermont. BTV doesn’t have a direct flight to Boston anymore and the last time they did it was a nine seat prop plane that canceled more often than it flew, could not fly in bad weather or cold weather plus it wasn’t even cheap. Between the hassle of getting through an airport and wondering if your flight is going to leave on time or be canceled the train starts to make sense for shorter trips.

That’s because the vast majority of people would still use the roads. Let’s say I live in Saint Albans, I don’t but I think it’s a good example. It’s about 35 minutes from Saint Albans to the airport, it’s a similar amount of time to most of Burlington and South Burlington. If I hop in my car 40 to 45 minutes before I start work I’ll generally be fine. Now if I’m commuting by rail I have to get to the rail station whenever there’s a train that will get me to work on time and it’s unlikely for most people but that time will be convenient. I will then need to transfer onto a bus or more likely more than one bus to get where I’m going. So not only am I at the mercy of whenever the train is running I have to assume that the buses will be on time plus I will still have to walk since my job being on the bus route is no guarantee. Then all of this Hass to be done in reverse and again the buses and trains will likely not sync up with a lot of peoples start and end times. I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to do when I’m done working is spend an hour or two trying to get home when I could’ve done so in 35 minutes. I’m tired, my feet are tired and having to walk to a bus stop then stand outside in the cold hoping the bus comes by is not something I want to do.

There might be enough people if most people were using it but most people wouldn’t use it because it’s inconvenient and in many situations cost far too much time. If I’m reading the map right the closest stop to Burlington is north of the airport and both Burlington and South Burlington are quite large so unless you had a dozen buses running you’re going to have to walk miles to your destinations including the airport. You have to wait for the train then wait for a bus and then still have to walk and that that is not going to work for a lot of people. Sure it might reduce stress from driving a little bit but if I can get to the airport from Milton in 22 minutes, Saint Albans in 35 minutes or Montpelier in 50 and not have to worry about rail schedules and bus schedules versus a minimum hour and a half to two hours between rail and bus and worrying that everything doesn’t run perfectly I would rather drive. Using rail and bus makes some sense if those routes fit your daily commute but they won’t work for a lot of people.

They also make it a lot more difficult to do things besides go to work. Say I want to go to target and shop before work and then go to Hannaford‘s before I head back home, if I have my car stuff from target goes in the trunk in the morning and groceries go in the trunk in the evening. Not only would I have to expect a significant amount of time getting to these locations I would have to wait for a bus each time to get me back to the train station or to get me closer to work. Then I’m lugging around several bags of crap and that’s not fun.

Well said, I would be 100% for trade or light rail service around the state except I don’t see a lot of people using it if they then have to walk miles to get to their destination or destinations. Even if rail was paired with a robust bus system it’s still much slower than driving And the state already has a severe lack of blue-collar workers so finding hundreds of people to drive trains and buses is a problem.

Thank you, I should’ve known by your name that you knew more than I do haha. Hey I’m not asking for legal advice or anything but if someone wanted to insulate a basement is that something you can do as a homeowner or are Vermont state regulations too strict? Because I was thinking about just laying some R19 between the beams as a balance between cost and energy savings. But if I had to also use foam and then drywall it I’ll probably let the next owner do so. That’s something I missed when I bought the house since I’m originally from a warm climate, I’m disappointed my home inspector didn’t say anything but I heard they passed away so it’s not like I can do anything about it.

Of course I’m assuming it cost more since the article said they spent about 10% more on this house than they would a traditional build and building a house these days costs at least $300,000. I get the environmental aspect I’m saying that the financial aspect isn’t great. And r32 is not cheap, I’m not telling you what to do with your money I’m saying that fully insulating the house with it is a major expense. I’m also not quite sold on the airtight house idea since our house is supposed to breathe at least a little bit, if you don’t go outside for a couple days the air is going to start getting pretty stale.

You would not in any way pay for that much insulation and windows in 10 years, not even close. My home is significantly larger than theirs and I maybe pay about $2000 a winter to heat it and next to nothing in the summer to cool it because I’m stubborn and just use a fan or two. And that’s heating with propane and electricity Mostly leaving the thermostat at 70 since I don’t have a smart thermostat, I could get that cost down by more than half if I used wood. They’re paying around $40,000 premium on tons of insulation and high end windows. They also bought solar panels to run the heat pump. But even excluding the solar panels it would take at least 20 years to get back their investment and then that time they could’ve turned that $40,000 into more like $100,000 in a high-yield mutual fund. Since they have solar panels they could off and heat their house with free electricity if it was of traditional construction instead of sealed up like a bank fault meaning they’d probably spend a lot less and not even recoup their money in 30 years let alone the opportunity cost of investing that money.

So I just ran the numbers and the majority of their expenses are on the insulation and construction, not the windows. I think it’s safe to assume they’re spending about $30,000 on insulation and thicker walls, that’s about $83 a month added to their mortgage over a traditional home. If you invested $83 a month in a high-yield mutual fund averaging 10% which really isn’t even that high and it’s over 30 years you’d have $172,000. The savings from not paying to heat your home barely breakeven especially since they’re “cheating” in this case by having solar panels. it sounds great and if you’re well to do you can get away with it but for most blue-collar folk they’re doing something to help the environment which is great but they’re spending well over $100,000 more just on insulation then they would’ve spent to heat the home. Some decent windows and some decent insulation is more than enough, I pay maybe $500 a month four months out of the year to heat a significantly larger house and I just leave the thermostat at 70f.

See they are running a heat pump and it cost them nothing but that’s because they’ve invested in solar so between the at least $30,000-40,000 for extra insulation and whatever they paid for solar panels they are spending significantly more over the next 30 years that if they were just heating a house with good windows and reasonable insulation.

I’m not being anti-environmentalism, no lol if you can afford it go right ahead. These are just the thoughts of a blue collar guy that does what they can to help the environment but couldn’t justify spending that much to never get the money back when I could put the equivalent money in high yield mutual funds. Let’s say the extra insulation cost $30,000, that works out to about $83 per mortgage payment over 30 years. If instead that $83 was put directly into a high-yield mutual fund monthly doing an average of 10% over 30 years you have $172,000. These two look like money having been a poor kid that grew up around rich kids, that’s great for them not good for blue-collar people.

Sounds about right, my point was not to be anti-environmental it’s that people should know what they’re spending their money on. The savings from that much insulation don’t actually pay for themselves if you were able to put the equivalent money into a high yield mutual fund or slightly lower yielding retirement funds. judging by the age of that couple they’re probably 30 years from retirement. Some people would prioritize lower emissions but they’re already getting that in part by having solar panels.

I’d be interested in the cost savings from not needing to heat the home much or at all versus money spent on that much insulation. Sure it’s probably better for an environmental standpoint but might not be a good financial move. The article says about 10% so what, an extra $30-$40,000 on a house that size? Your paying maybe 5-7% that to heat a normal house annually. That money would make you a lot more money over the years in a mutual fund so the selling point is really that it’s more environmentally friendly I guess.

Some, not most. And even dogs like huskies and malamutes should have the option to come inside. It’s going to be -16f by the lake next week, that’s awful cold for any dog.

Probably because it’s cold as fuck and dogs don’t like being cold.

The other stuff is happening mostly in Burlington which is about an hour from where your husband works and you can’t afford to live in Burlington anyways so that solves that problem.

Bruh OP and her husband are working class people, they’re not some lawyer or doctor from Massachusetts buying their sixth vacation home. We have a labor crisis in the state and we need to attract blue collar people to do the jobs that a lot of the recent transplants refused to do.

Check out the Champlain housing trust, I know a few people who bought homes through them and well you don’t own the entire home it does make homeownership a lot more affordable.

https://www.getahome.org/

While it’s a cruel thing to say it’s also honest. People in their 20s and 30s aren’t having a lot of kids these days because they are flat out unaffordable and because they spend so much time working and commuting the thought of having a family just doesn’t make sense. It seems like they are a single paycheck household and likewise isn’t really a thing anymore.

It would be interesting to compare an AWD car with all seasons against a RWD car with good snow tires. I’m still driving an older RWD car and I get around with few difficulties unless it’s really shitty out but when it gets nasty I’m definitely not having a good time. That said I need to bite the bullet and buy something used out of state, the terrible gas mileage is too low and the wasted gas ain’t good for the environment.

No. I think I made it pretty clear that I don’t worry much about things I can’t fix and I try to not let them detract from my own experiences or enjoyment. I talked about being part of a community and how we don’t always like everyone in that community but we can still be kind to each other. I don’t go around tutting at everyone who does things that I don’t like.

It’s really not a lot of effort and I don’t understand why you’re being so negative. It seems like you want to argue and that’s not beneficial.

I think you’re approaching this the wrong way, these are the values I grew up with and you seem offended by them. I can’t change human behavior and trying to would be met with nothing but hostility and people would just double down on their bad behavior. I personally prefer solitude but I also like helping people and have the skills to do so so why wouldn’t I? It’s not about being savior it’s about living in a society where people don’t have to know each other or even like each other to be kind and help people if they need help. I don’t have to know someone to be willing to help them just like if I see a car broken down in winter.

Not really because there’s not much I can do about those things. I mostly focus on things I have control over like having a bit of extra supplies and past EMS training so I can help people. Similarly I always used to bring a bag so I can pack out my trash and some collected trash. Of course it would be preferable if everybody was respectful in nature but that’s not going to happen.

Over 150 million chickens were culled in the last 14 months because of avian flu globally which is raising prices.

The only thing hikers should care about imo is that other hikers are OK. Are used to hike a lot when I was younger and always carried extra water, bleeding control supplies or an improvised splint in case somebody needed some help. Otherwise you do you.

Vermont doesn’t seem to have a lot of forest fires because our forests are still green, West Coast forests are tinder boxes and have been browning for decades so fires are a constant problem. Another issue is the massive development in areas that are naturally prone to wildfires and where things are worsened by people being there.