Jim Mendenhall came to Earlham College on Friday looking for ways to save on home energy costs.

Thanks to guest speaker Steve Nicholson, Mendenhall walked away with more information than he'll be able to use at first.

Nicholson, an Earlham graduate who lives "off the grid" near Ithaca, N.Y., uses solar and wind power to generate enough juice to run his home.

He and his family live a comfortable lifestyle free from energy bills with the aid of solar panels in their front yard, a wind mill, high-performance windows, good insulation and energy-efficient appliances.

The family harnesses its own power not only because of the costs of electricity, but because they say it's better for the environment. Nicholson said the emissions generated by energy plants hurt the environment, and he wanted to come up with a way to not contribute to that system.

Some simple conservation techniques can be started right away.

"If you use 20 percent less electricity, your emissions are 20 percent less," Nicholson said. "It's a direct correlation."

One energy-saving rule Nicholson's family uses is simple: One light can be turned on per person.

Nicholson's home uses about 10 percent of the power of the average home.

"We didn't do it with any mysterious magical ways," Nicholson said.

For his own house, Nicholson said to connect to the nearest energy grid would have cost $6,000 plus monthly bills. He paid $7,500 for the alternative energy equipment and doesn't have those bills.

His clothes washer uses one-third the amount of electricity and water as a regular washer and only one ounce of soap per load. His on-demand water heater uses 20 percent less propane than a regular water heater, has a 20-year guarantee, supplies endless hot water and has no tank to rust out.

"The energy savings are so significant that it will pay for itself in a very short time," Nicholson said.

He said 57 million people were affected by the August 2003 blackout in the Northeast. His household, however, was able to function as normal. They weren't a part of the downed electricity grid.

The staff at Cope Environmental Center is building and will test its own alternative energy system.

Phil Seybold, facilities and grounds director, said the property has a solar panel and will soon put up a wind turbine.

"It's going to be exciting, we're looking forward to that going up," Seybold said.

Staff will test the efficiency of solar and wind power and energy-efficient appliances in the home on the north side of the property. They'll measure energy demand and figure out what is efficient and what isn't. By looking at what works and what doesn't with this house, Seybold said community members can plan ways to make their own houses more energy efficient.

Paul Retherford of Hagerstown said his family would eventually like to live off the grid. They live in what Retherford calls a passive solar house, one where part of the home's power comes from solar energy. He estimated about 65 percent of his house's energy comes from solar power.

"It's really energy efficient," Retherford said. He said they probably only pay about $250 per year in energy costs.

Wayne County resident Mendenhall lives in the country and would like to find a way to get off Whitewater REMC. He was thinking about putting up a wind generator, but he's not sure what he's going to do.

"Basically just looking for more ideas for my own home, being more independent (from) gas and electric costs," Mendenhall said. He might look into using solar panels to heat his swimming pool, but he said it's difficult to become part of a new system when his home is on another.

Nicholson said he realized the start-up costs add up quickly, but something has to be done to decrease emissions that pollute the environment. He said that while 5 percent of the world population lives in the United States, this country uses 25 percent of the world's energy.

"We can't keep hogging the global resources of the planet."

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