RE Sources Sustainable Living Center - Clean Energy Workshops

RE Sources Sustainable Living Center’s fall program, Clean Energy Workshops, feature Do-it-Yourself energy efficiency measures for your home, business and automobile. The series starts on Saturday, October 8^th and runs until Saturday, October 29^th. Clean Energy Workshops are part of a series of informative and stimulating presentations and films, partnering with other community organizations and businesses, to provide opportunities to present innovative topics to the general public for discussion, exploration, and education. 

 

In-home Energy Auditing and Hands-on Weatherization Training- Saturday, October 8^th. Join Jim Harmon for a presentation on reducing your carbon footprint through energy efficiency measures in your home. We will discuss important considerations like indoor air quality, building diagnostics, and combustion appliance safety. Immediately following, Tom Brenton will walk us through hands-on demonstrations of weatherization measures you can take in your own home to increase temperature control and reduce costs.

An Intelligent Introduction to Solar Electricity- Wednesday, October 12th

Learn what you need to know about solar energy. Dana Brandt, founder and president of Ecotech Energy Systems will bring his local and international experience to teach you the basics of solar electricity, why it works in Whatcom County and if it would be a good choice for your home. He will also cover the myriad local, state and federal incentives for solar.

Do-it-yourself Small Scale Hydro-Electricity- Saturday, October 15th
Jeffrey Utter teaches the basics of generating power from flowing water including System design basics, Water impoundment and transfer, Intake strategies & examples, Penstock design parameters, Generator & housing considerations, Off grid power systems, Utility intertie systems, and Government regulations.

Smart Design – Efficiency from Start to Finish- Wednesday, October 19^th
Deborah Todd, Building Design Services, will present a brief personal history of the Green Building movement and how it has influenced her current interest in small homes and community building.  She'll be giving an overview of 'smart design' from passive solar and site work to advanced framing and small home design using examples from many of her projects.  Finally she will give an overview of community building looking at examples from her own community, Millworks Co-Housing and the new McKenzie Green Commons project.

Do-it-yourself Solar Hot Water- Saturday, October 22ndSolar hot water systems can have the shortest payback of any energy upgrade. Using newer vacuum tube solar water heaters and innovative techniques can simplify and lower the costs of using solar to heat your hot water. This workshop will look at the components and simpler designs that will fit many situations. Class hand out will list where components can be purchased and costs. The instructor Chris Soler lives off grid and has been using solar hot water for the last 20 years, the last five with solar vacuum tubes.

Go Solar Bellingham/Put Sunshine in Your Wallet- Tuesday, October 25th
Joshua Miller of Western Solar will speak about a community initiative between Western Solar, the non-profit group Community Energy Solutions of Bainbridge Island, and the new "Made-in-Bellingham" module manufacturer Itek Energy, to bring discounted solar installations to Bellingham residences through the bulk-purchase model that has been successful in several communities in the US, including the recent initiative in Queen Anne.

Introduction to DC electric vehicle conversion- Saturday, October 29th
Jack McKee talks about his low-tech gasoline to DC conversion. Jack has converted a VW Rabbit PU to electric and has been driving it almost daily for two years. He'll talk about the building experience, the components and problems involved, including: the motor, the controller, the batteries, the charger, wiring, clutch and adapter plate.