While there are those who gleefully await the moment of seeing their neighbor’s designer panties flapping in the breeze, your neighborhood homeowner’s association still has something to say about that.  As they do with any other desires you might have toward conservation efforts.  

Thinking of installing an outdoor clothes line?  How about collecting rain in a rainwater barrel?  Interested in harnessing the sun’s energy and you think solar panels are a novel approach to creating and conserving energy?  After you’ve asked yourself these questions, you’ll most definitely be asking that homeowner’s association the same questions.  That effort could very well burst your bubble.  Forget feeling good about your brilliance in taking that small step toward an energy conservation plan.

From ridiculous to absurd, some of these associations have rules in place to protect the street appeal of that decreasing in value investment you call a home.  Only in America could energy conservation do battle with something so vain as the “how do I look, dear” mentality.  

Consider these absurdities.  Some associations allow homeowners to install solar panels on the roof, provided the panels are not visible from the street.  Remember, it’s about how one looks, not how one feels.  If your home’s facade is fortunate, or not, to be oriented toward the sun for optimum solar gain, tough luck.  Install those panels on the shady side of the house and you’ll do just fine.  The panels might not feel the full effects of the sun, but hey, your house will still look good. 

This one is nice.  Maybe you’re fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood that allows the environmentally friendly rain water barrel.  It seems logical: tucked in a corner, in back of the house, to help reduce the water bill and improve the quality of produce from your garden.  Upon research with your energy conservation management team a.k.a. the homeowner’s association, you find that any barrel over two feet in height is considered a statue.  Not only that, should you opt for the non-statued version, no standing water is allowed in them at any time.  In other words, leave the barrel’s faucet open when the rains come.   

Forget the fact that for centuries the outdoor clothes line has been the dryer of choice for many rural communities.  Often considered the poor man’s clothes dryer, it’s now considered eco-chic to have your laundry blowing in the wind.  From retractable clothes lines to rotary clothes lines to portable clothes lines, many attractive and appealing (remember, it’s all about how we look) versions are now on the market, making the homeowners’ associations arguments even weaker.  

As a result of rising energy costs, homeowners’ associations who continue to battle and demonize energy conscious home owners are themselves beginning to feel the heat.  Tax incentives are one of the driving forces in helping a growing population begin to think green.   The same entity that has mercifully provided us with those tax incentives is also involved in laws being passed in some states requiring associations to allow clotheslines, in most circumstances.  Get your binoculars out if you live in Florida, Hawaii, Maine, or Vermont.  Bills have failed in New Hampshire, Virginia, Maryland and Oregon.  You folks still get to throw your laundry in the clothes dryer and watch your energy bills continue to rise.  Use your binoculars for the birds.  

The future is upon us.  With that rising population and a decreasing carbon-based energy supply, average costs for energy consumption will continue to increase.  As we begin sharing our meals with energy starvation, it’s time for us all to start thinking about renewable energy and a viable energy conservation program.