2040: Small-Town Solutions
Gail Oberst
Kathy motioned to me after our dance class, leaning in close as if she had a secret. “I’m losing my apartment,” she said. “I can’t afford the rent. If you know of anyone with a room or a place to stay, let me know.”
I nodded. Kathy is a beautiful woman in her 60s – until her mother died last year, Kathy took care of her. When she danced, you could tell she was shaking loose her cares. She was not easily embarrassed, but I could tell the thought of homelessness had finally gotten to her. I wanted to help.
That was 2023. Today is spring, 2040. For 15 years Kathy has lived in the carriage house that once had no use but to hold my solar panels and store my deck furniture.
Her need for housing inspired me to refurbish my property to not only provide space for living, but to live more simply, creating a smaller carbon footprint in my community. Around me, my neighbors have joined me, turning spacious houses into multifamily homes, turning lawns into gardens and rooftops into solar panels.
How did we do it? First, in 2024, our city applied for and got a grant that provided no-interest loans to homeowners like myself so they could create affordable housing on their current property while reducing their carbon footprint. Repayment of the loans went back to the fund so they could reloan it to other people who did the same. The grant also paid for free city planning services to help us create a practical living space. The loan had a snowball effect, and it is still loaning funds today, from the same pot.
Here’s how we became carbon neutral on our small town home property, for example:
We upgraded and expanded my solar panels to improve solar efficiency to provide 50 percent of our energy needs in the winter and 100 percent or more in the summer. In 2040, we produced excess energy in the summer, selling it to the grid to offset our winter payments. We replaced our gas heat and water heaters with electric and produced enough energy to power our hybrid and electric vehicles.
We refurbished the main house and the carriage house to accommodate three small families or single renters. In 2023, only two people had lived in the space. Now, 6 live in three apartments, two apartments in the main house and one in the carriage house. The rent from these apartments repaid the revolving loan five years ago. With proceeds from rents today, I building another small summer vacation cottage on the southern Oregon coast. It is entirely solar powered.
The lawn at the new triplex has been converted to garden, orchard, and native plants. Each renter has a section of the property where they can grow their own food. Each February we have a property meeting to plan our “crops.” I maintain a greenhouse on my piece and grow tomatoes and peppers. Kathy and her friend grow winter crops. The family with a small child in the downstairs apartment grows peas and carrots and garlic and lettuce. We share produce from two rows of grapevines, and a small orchard of apples, pears, cherries and other fruit trees. Our meeting details what we could share or process together, and what equipment, soil amendments, seeds or plants we might use or purchase together.
We compost all of our non-meat waste in corner bins. The compost is used on our gardens.
We told our neighbors about our project and have helped them access the loans they need to reduce their own footprint, as we have done. Today, nearly half of our city residents live on property that has benefitted from the revolving loans that set this process in motion. Our neighbors have chickens. We buy or trade for their eggs and fertilizer. All of our neighbors have solar panels. Last year, for the first time, the city produced more energy than it used.
And Kathy? She is still fit and happily living with her new husband, a retired farmer who loves to work in their small garden.
Life is good in 2040. Last year, Architectural Digest featured our property on it’s cover. “Generating a Good Life,” was the headline.