HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN SOLAR & WIND POWER SYSTEM – WORKSHOP

• Harness the wind.
• Determine how much solar power you need.
• Hydro power
• Store energy.
• Solar Thermal Energy
• Unhook from your electric bill.

This workshop gives you the knowledge to use solar and wind power systems to run your home. Learn how to set up the photovoltaic solar panels and wire them to produce power. A colorful slide show surveys the various types of wind turbines.

Learn about the parts of an independent power system. Explore new and old battery technologies. During the class you will see the systems working and producing power. We look at the latest in charge controllers and inverters, the electronic boxes that control and convert the power. You can see how much power is available and learn how to adapt your home to become more energy efficient.

The teacher, Dr. Steve Blake, has built and lived on independent power for decades.

May 23, 2009 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Locavore potluck lunchbreak
Kihei Charter School
Suggested donation: $20

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Comment by Clayton-Hoyt Uyehara on March 23, 2009 at 1:48pm

click here to read the full article

Comment by Clayton-Hoyt Uyehara on March 23, 2009 at 1:47pm

2008-08-28 News
Rob Report
The energy doctor
Dr. Steve Blake offers a renewable energy prescription
by Rob Parsons

Dr. Steve Blake's got the green cure for the petroleum blues.

photo: Catherine Blake.
August 28, 2008
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait ‘til oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”

—Thomas Edison

Down lush, winding Honopou Road on the ocean side of Hana Highway on Maui’s north shore, residents live beyond the reach of utility and water lines. These adventuresome jungle dwellers have engineered their own systems for living off the grid, with water catchment, solar and windpower to produce electricity, and other inventive ways to utilize available resources.

It’s not a lifestyle that suits everyone. Even the narrow, bumpy road is a bit challenging to shock absorbers and nerves. Yet it encourages patience and courtesy as one vehicle pulls over to allow another to pass.

On a sunny Saturday morning, a half dozen cars pull into the driveway of Dr. Steve Blake, gathering for his monthly workshop titled How to Build Solar and Wind Power Systems. Blake is a Doctor of Holistic Health and prolific author, not an electrical engineer. Nevertheless, he has such a broad understanding of renewable energy systems that friends encouraged him to share his knowledge with them.

Blake and his wife Catherine live cozily underneath towering mango trees on a ridge overlooking meandering Honopou Stream, in an area that once served as a rock quarry. A federally funded Reclamation Project in the 1930s under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped provide materials for road base to improve the Hana Highway.

Steve and “Cat” invite their guests to a small, screened dwelling they call “The Library.” There, they hook up a PowerPoint projector—which gets its juice from an array of solar panels—for the classroom portion of the workshop.

Those gathered include: A carpenter neighbor who lives on 100 percent solar power; a couple that lives off the grid eight miles toward Hana and is looking forward to hearing about the, “newest, latest, and greatest”; a lifelong sailor and self-described minimalist who lives without a refrigerator; a Lahaina realtor planning to build her “smart house” in an agricultural subdivision; a twenty-something Haiku resident interested in designing his own wind power system; and yours truly.

Blake also has sailing in his blood and has designed and built a 45-foot boat. He also constructed a wind generator on their Honopou property, assembled with materials “available at Home Depot” and acquired for less than $200. He describes that his background includes studies in math and physics, in addition to years of studying health and nutrition. His latest book, Vitamins and Minerals Demystified, is published by McGraw-Hill.

Blake leads his group through the basics of solar and wind power systems. He covers solar cells, roof and ground mounting systems, charge controllers, battery storage, inverters, wind designs, backup generators and energy conservation.

The average American household consumes 28 kilowatt hours daily, he says, though he generally gets by on a fraction of that, less than 2 kWh a day. Thus, he advocates energy efficiency, understanding what appliances are energy hogs, eliminating ghost loads and converting to power strips and energy efficient bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) can reduce energy use by 75 percent, he says, and also produce much less heat than incandescent bulbs.

The tiny amount of mercury in CFLs shouldn’t be cause for concern, says Blake, and notes it is less dangerous than amounts found in swordfish or tuna. CFLs can be properly recycled, and are likely to last for years