Sarah's Sun

Calendar of the
Maine Solar Energy Association (MESEA)

MESEA Portable PV Trailer Assembly Workshop
Jonesport, Maine, July 12 - 14, 2013, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM

MESEA will provide a three-day assembly workshop for the hands-on experience of assembling a Disaster Ready Portable PV Trailer. This PV Trailer is designed to provide electrical power for a limited number of days for an affected population after a hurricane, tornado or other natural disaster. MESEA will choose re-cycled, donated, and locally available materials and supplies for this project. The outcome will allow the participants the chance to share their experience with other groups in other areas of the country and to assemble duplicate PV trailers where needed. This project is aimed to get the participants from other ASES chapters around the country involved with the efforts by making an instructional video so inexperienced folks can easily accomplish the task. This workshop is for ASES Chapters, NESEA Chapters, and the general public.
Fee: $75 per day, $125 for two days, $175 for the entire workshop, including lunches.
Sleeping space is available for $30 a day, including breakfast.
Information and Reservations: Rich Komp 207-497-2204, sunwatt@juno.com or John Burke 516-674-9090, dadsolar@yahoo.com
MESEA Website: www.mainesolar.org

 

Summer Internships in Sustainable Living in Downeast Maine

MESEA, together with SEADS of Truth will be offering summer internships at three different nearby locations in Columbia and Jonesport, Maine. The interns will live and work on solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) projects, and organic gardening at one or more of these locations which include Richard Komp's beautiful home on the coast of Maine, a long established SEADS workshop center on 40+ rural acres and a small organic farm. All three locations are off- the-grid with many solar and renewable energy features and all three need repair and upgrading work to make them more useful as alternative learning centers. The internships arrangements will include free lodging. The only cost will be payments for food. For more information and to register contact: SEADS-Charles Ewing seads@maineline.net MESEA-John Burke 516-674-9090 dadsolar@yahoo.com Joan McMurray 207-483-4690

Grupo Fenix Solar Culture Course in Nicaragua


Come to Nicaragua and engage your head, heart, and hands in the real work of developing countries. Our hands-on courses allow you to be immersed in the daily life of rural Nicaraguans by living with host families and working alongside local community members to create their vision of a model community through renewable energy and sustainable practices.

Discuss the theory behind solar energy and the challenges of development with your instructors and other course participants. Spend your days learning how to construct solar cookers, photovoltaic panels, and installing photovoltaic systems. Laugh along with your host family as you try to recall your high school Spanish, balance water on your head or make tortillas. Most activities and classes are held in the new adobe Solar Center. Housing will be simple, like that of a typical rural Nicaraguan family.

Explore a beautiful country and its culture while learning about renewable energy and sustainable development in the field. Our courses provide a unique travel experience that is educational, rewarding, and fun!

This 11-day course, offered twice a year, has been held by Grupo Fenix since 1999. It is a great introduction to the science and use of appropriate renewable energy technologies such as solar cookers, dryers and photo-voltaic systems. Dr. Richard Komp, an expert from the United States with over 50 years experience working with solar technologies, teaches the technical classes for the January version of this course and the July version is based on his methodology for fabrication of PV panels in developing countries.

See www.grupofenix.org for the latest schedule of courses.

Also, the course includes various tourist activities such as a visit to nearby beautiful spots in the mountains of northern Nicaragua . If weather permits, we will spend a day exploring the Somoto Canyon and swimming in its natural pools. Also, during the course we will spend a night at a rustic ecolodge in the Tisey Nature Reserve, which has hiking trails, fields of organic vegetables, a farming community that produces its own specialty cheeses and one of the best panoramic views in the country.

The course fee of $995 includes all food and lodging, with a $50 deposit to be sent to the nonprofit Skyheat Associates at PO Box 184, Harrington ME 04643 before June 15th to insure a place in the course, which has a limit of 15 participants and is often completely full. For more information, please contact the grupofenix@gmail.com or sunwatt@juno.com or look on-line at www.grupofenix.org for details of all of our programs.

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