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Home improvement

-- Benton -- 08/03/2009

Sometimes, it is about just taking things into your own hands. That is what two homeowners, in South Carolina and Baltimore, are trying to do to make their own mark on the planet, or not make a mark really.

In the Melrose Heights neighborhood of South Carolina, Betsy Kaemmerlen wants to install 10 solar panels on the south facing roof of her home. Kaemmerlen had to file a petition to get around her neighborhood's architectural design guidelines, but if that should happen the more than 100-year old house will be it's own producer of clean energy. Some feel that this could have lasting effects on others that want to take individual action.

“Melrose is the guinea pig,” Fred Easley, president of the Melrose neighborhood association told The State. “It’s like Betsy is the first person to buy a car in our neighborhood, and we have no road signs, no speed limits."

Well, almost. Kaemmerlan isn't alone in her efforts.

In Baltimore, Marsha Vitow of Federal Hill is trying to lower her carbon footprint by installing a wind turbine on her roof. Of course, she has run into just a few zoning laws, the most key being one that prevents "variants" from being built above a 35-foot limit. Vitow lives in the inner harbor, making it more likely that she will have enough wind power to make her efforts worthwhile. The executive director of the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals told the Baltimore sun himself that Vitow's project, "certainly fits within the goals of the city."

These efforts fit within to goals of the country as well.