Detailed Information:
We need help to realize our dream. We have a very interesting building with a unique design. We built a school in an old greenhouse. It's a great space for daylighting and passive solar heating (we were on the Solar Homes tour last year). But we would like to achieve more of its potential. It's a fairly old building, and we would like to add incremental improvements untill we are energy self-sufficient. We choose the incremental path because we feel it will be more of a model for sustainability. We figure that for the idea to serve as a good model, the process itself must be sustainable as well. We could add collection capacity for p/v, solar to heat our pool and water systems, and so on. Who knows what we can do if we do it a bit at a time. We have dreams of an electric school bus, greywater recycling (the kids already plant, tend and harvest their own gardens)--maybe composting toilets or building integrated p/v panels, wind power...the sun's the limit! We also have a friend and former teacher--now an architect--who has patented a design for roofing panels to maximize passive solar heat. She would love to use the school as a prototype if we could find a backer. Then we could retrofit the panels with integrated p/v units, etc. We are also trying to raise money through our handmade recycled paper and soap sales, which help fund our programs. Follow the links to learn more about our school.
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