Though Smart Energy was officially established this year, Rist's background in energy conservation has deep roots. The family business Rist-Frost Associates, founded by Rist's father, had as one of its partners Dick Bodette, the engineer who designed the first geothermal heating and cooling system in a Glens Falls building. The 110-year-old Smith Flats Building at 55 Bay Street also has a geothermal heating and cooling system designed by Bodette. In the 1980's, Niagara Mohawk conducted a study of geothermally heated and cooled buildings as compared with other similar buildings in the state. It was determined that, on a per square foot basis, energy costs for the Smith Flats building were 40 percent less expensive than for other buildings of similar vintage and design. Its fuel tank? A drilled well in the backyard.

In the 1970's, Rist was in meetings of the North Country Association, founded by and for the people living inside the Blue Line to promote use of renewable energies within the Adirondack Park. Renewable energies include solar, wind, geothermal, wood and hydroelectric - energies that can be renewed within our lifetime without causing pollution. Rist contrasted the criterion of lifetime renewability to the many years it takes nature to create a gallon of crude oil versus the few minutes that it takes for the usable energy of that gallon to be burned up.

Rist has been involved in the design of various geothermal heating and cooling systems over the past 25 years. In addition to the various private homes, Regan and Denny Funeral Home on Quaker Road and the Lake George RV Park are local

geothermally-heated buildings with temperature control systems Rist designed. Overall, he has been involved in the design and installation of more than 500 such systems in the area that covers eastern New York, New Jersey, Vermont and Massachusetts.

While Rist admits the cost of the initial installation of an alternative heating system is not inexpensive, the savings in the long run are phenomenal. Add in the solar energy options and there is the possibility of being completely "unplugged" from the power companies, never having to pay a power bill, and having the option of locating one's home in places where no power line has gone before (and the cost per foot of installing such a line would be prohibitive). Rist has experience in solar applications for heating, hot water, electric and swimming pool operation.

The Web page for Smart Energy, smart-NRG.com, is still under construction, but Rist can be reached at 744-8220 or in his offices at 160 Sherman Island Road. The email address is herii@adelphia.net. Regular hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.