Midwest Renewable Energy Fair

The newspaper column:

This week, I am reporting from the Midwest Renewable Energy Association’s Energy Fair. Every year, practitioners and manufacturers of renewable energy systems from all over the country (and across the globe) come together in Custer, Wisconsin to share ideas about renewable energy.

Renewable energy, broadly defined, involves using the reoccurring and regenerative forces of Nature to power our world. Solar and Wind are the Brad and Angelina of the genre, but any element of green building, energy conservation, clean energy generation, or renewable energy advocacy is fair game at this Fair.

A tall, slender windmill announces the entry to the site. Most people come by car – after all, it’s a rural destination – but there were plenty of bicycles around and a bus stop for arranged public transportation.

White tents house make-shift classrooms where seminars and lectures on anything renewable take place throughout the three day event - over 200 sessions in all.

Exhibitors display the latest technologies in renewable energies and services with experts to answer specific questions about real world applications. Component samples, mock-ups, and ample product literature (to which an English major might raise an eyebrow and mutter “you call this literature?”) provide a dizzying avalanche of useful information for renewable newbies and pros alike.

Workshops led by pioneering experts demonstrate straw bale construction techniques and the ins and outs of erecting and operating solar energy systems.

On display at the Clean Energy Car Show are new electric vehicles, conventional vehicles converted to electric or hybrid operation, and even a solar powered bicycle.

Children can get into the act too. There’s a dedicated “Rainbow’s End” area for play and age-appropriate workshops on wind power, photosynthesis, and a host of other diverse learning activities disguised as fun and games. Kids can even assemble photon racers – or solar powered model cars – and race them.

Without a doubt, there is much more information at this fair than is possible to imbibe in a too-short period of time, even for renewable energy wonks. The best strategy at an event like this is take names and notes and follow up later. But the inevitable and necessary conversation does transpire, naturally.

The Internet is great, but face to face contact has always been, and will always be a very sustainable way to communicate. There is no equal substitute for a conversation in the flesh. Beyond the intricacies of technology and commerce, we are - after all - all human beings sharing a common planet.

For the health and well-being of humanity and the world in which we live, it is for the good of us all that people get together periodically and share ideas about how we can manifest and maintain a clean, prosperous, and peaceful living environment.

That is the spirit of this gathering.

The House of the Future

This week's newspaper column:

What does the future hold for sustainable, energy efficient housing? Let’s take a peek.

Technology is available now to revolutionize the way we monitor energy usage. Smart meters – already in use in some areas - let homeowners see in real time how much energy their home is consuming. It’s even possible to track each outlet, light, and appliance in the house to determine where the “energy hogs” are.

Got an old refrigerator sucking more than its fair share of electricity? A smart meter can identify excessive energy drains letting you know it’s time to recycle that old clunker to make room for a new super-efficient model. And with a user-friendly interface, you’ll be able to access this information from your desktop, your television, or from your phone while on vacation.

The next-generation house will manufacture some or all of its own energy. Every year, more and more energy-producing building products - photovoltaic shingles, for example – come on the commercial market. Imagine a house where the roof, walls, and windows all generate electricity feeding itself and selling back excess energy to the local energy company; each home becomes a mini power plant.

In the future, solar panels will not be “add-ons,” but will be integrated into the fabric of the structure. Instead of looking at panels mounted to a roof, you’ll see a wall and know it is collecting solar energy.

Currently, prices are high for this new breed of technology, but we are just now standing at the threshold looking in; think about how rudimentary computers were just a generation ago. Over the next few decades, we will find a boom in the availability of energy-producing building products, and like with computers, continual improvements in technology lower the cost per unit of energy produced.

Looking a bit further into the future we can expect intelligent building skins. Walls and roofs reflect or attract heat depending upon the season and time of day. Surfaces will automatically take into consideration the local environment’s temperature and humidity changing like a chameleon with the climatic forces at play.

And there are some eternal environmental solutions that are destined to make a comeback.

Natural ventilation as a way to cool and clean inside air has been used since man started building homes. Although technology advances, the basic principles of physics stay the same. Natural ventilation will be just as viable in the future as it was for our great-grandparents.

Indigenous vegetation planted in “just the right place” will clean the air and temper the home’s microclimate. For example, planting deciduous trees on the south side of the house shades the structure in the summer and, when fall strips the leaves, allows the passage of warm sun rays in the winter. Incorporation of plant life in the home of the future will be taken for granted.

Tomorrow will be here before you know it.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim

BeauSoliel: Home Stretch

Solar Decathlon Update: Every two years 20 university teams are chosen, based on proposals, to design an all-solar home and assemble it on the National Mall in Washington DC for public viewing and judging. Check back each Wednesday as the NAV Blog reports on the process of the design and construction of BeauSoleil, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's entry. For more info about the project, visit their website. And check out a short film about the project.

I recently made a visit to the BeauSoleil World Headquarters in Lafayette, Louisiana where Professor Geoff Gjertson and graduate student Catherine Guidry gave me a tour of the construction progress.

With the Solar Decathlon coming up in October, TEAM BeauSoleil is in full construction mode. The basic frame with wall and roof panels are in place as are the windows. Soon, interior and exterior finishes, will be applied.

As with any piece of experimental architecture, magical little details are beginning to appear. Contrary to popoular opinion, a "good set of drawings" is not all it takes to complete the building. Frank Lloyd Wright famously refused to finish the interior drawings until the shell construction was completed and he could stand in the building and make decisions about the final details. Sometimes he went so far as to move a drafting board into the space and finish drawings then and there.

Reports from the field:

Well it has been an exciting week for the Beausoleil Team. We have just finished up a very tough semester and we are gearing up for the hot and very humid Louisiana summer. Summertime also means fulltime work on our project, which has been through some amazing changes. We have just made some major updates to our cd’s. By correcting and refining our layout our cd’s are looking pretty good. So far things are looking very good for finishing on time. Starting next week we will continue to tweak some minor issues and hopefully finish them up in a timely manner, since we will be at full strength as we welcome back the rest of our team.

Greg Jefferson - TEAM BeauSoleil

This week the design and construction crew down at the BeauSoleil Worldwide Headquarters is raising the roof…literally! We’ve been making great progress on the various roof systems the house incorporates. The galvalume metal roofing is installed and the aluminum roof frame that houses the water heating system is also being made! The fancy, shifting-ridge roof we designed is kind-of a pain in the neck sometimes, but boy does it look good! We’ll continue with posts to keep you guys up-to-date on all the shenanigans going on at the BeauSoleil Worldwide Headquarters. Have a BeauSoleil Day!

Chris Dufreche -TEAM BeauSoleil

New York AutoEntry

Midnight Train

This week's newspaper column:

Want to take a low-carbon-footprint vacation this summer? Try Amtrak.

According to the US Department of Energy, trains emit less carbon than airplanes or automobiles per passenger mile making rail travel the greenest way to commute long distances. (In the early 1900’s, artist Walter Anderson crisscrossed the country on dirt roads with a rusty old green bicycle – a great deal more sustainable than plane, train, or car - but I wouldn’t suggest this for the faint of heart.)

With fares comparable to flying, Amtrak is an attractive way to see the country on the way to your final destination. And unlike the cramped quarters of a commercial airliner, seats are spacious with much more room to stretch and move around.

Watch the passing landscape from your seat, or saunter down to the lounge car for a panoramic view. Have a drink and a snack while you meet interesting and diverse fellow travelers.

When mealtime comes around, take advantage of the dining car where window-side booths are adorned with white table cloths and fresh-cut flowers. The kitchen offers a variety of menu choices -including healthy and vegetarian options - serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don’t expect a four star restaurant, but for diner food, the quality is surprisingly good.

Sleeping rooms with fold-out beds are available at a premium rate, but if comfort is a priority, that’s the way to go. Meals are included when you book a sleeper.

Getting beyond energy efficiency, rail travel fosters another facet of green living: cultural sustainability.

On the train, you will have the potential (and probability) of meeting people from all parts of the county and any corner of the globe. Long conversations are standard fare. Why hurry? You’ll have a few hours to relax and enjoy the ride.

If traveling alone or in a pair, the dining car hostess takes the liberty of seating you with a random rider or two leading to unexpectedly delightful conversations with people you probably never would meet otherwise.

Riding cross-country on passenger rail is the equivalent of taking a graduate level sociology class, except this course is “hands-on” and most your fellow students are up on the subject matter.

If you are planning an extended vacation, the USA Rail Pass is a great value. For less than four hundred dollars (and under two hundred dollars for kids), you can ride anywhere Amtrak travels for 15 days with up to 8 stopovers. Thirty and forty-five day passes are available as well.

Amtrak does not have advance purchase discounts per se, but as seats on a train sell out, the price gets progressively higher, so buy tickets as far ahead of your trip as possible.

Consider riding the rails this summer. Take a good book, and I bet you’ll have some great travel stories to tell when you return.

New York

Just returned from New York where I took in the Frank Lloyd Wright From Within Outward exhibition at the Guggenheim. More photos to come. Stay tuned.