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This
optional 2 week workshop covers the full spectrum>
Solar
hot water * solar and wind electricity * domestic household *
small-scale * DIY recycled * manufactured
hi-tech * materials + components * sizing your system
.
Do you want to know:
-
What systems are best for a domestic family or for
solo-use?
-
How to build your own?
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How to install and maintain your own?
-
How the technology works
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What size of system you really need?
Choosing
your own system will be a lot easier once you know what is involved. If
you have thought of buying an installed system attending this course
first can save you £1000's!
Many
of us would like to benefit from free energy but we may think “I can't
afford it” or “it doesn’t work, I don't understand it!” Living with Renewable Energy gives us more freedom and
independence. It powers not only our homes but can even empower our
lives!
Learning
how to?
During this workshop we will:
- Look
at solutions for domestic, mobile and community living,
- Construct
and install a simple solar water heating system with a solar and
rocket-fire heated open-air hot bath mostly using recycled
materials,
- Review
renewable energy basics and how much of it you need. We will each make a personal energy audit and find out the
size of systems we need,
- Check
out the options for hi-tec versus self-build low-impact,
- Visit
and see local use of solar water, wind + solar electricity
installations.
Workshop
Leaders>
Week 1 with Jonathan Eveleigh runs Rainbow Solar for 6
years in the UK and Portugal and has installed off-grid and
grid-connected electricity systems, and a variety of solar water heating
systems, designed and built his own.
He specialises in helping people to understand the technology,
make optimum choices and adapt their lifestyle to "low-impact"
without compromising
their needs.
Week
2 with Wilfried
Bauer coordinates Zona Alternativa, adapting alternative technology
for local social needs. He works to help educate poor families to
benefit from simple systems for lighting, water heating and water
pumping and has lived in Portugal for more than 18 years. He also
coordinates the social outreach programme "Amigos
dos burros" which keeps traditional skills alive in the local
community.
Typical
Itinerary>
| 14/21 Oct. - |
Welcome and Shared Meal. Vegetarian
cooking from local organic sources is usual. |
| Daily - |
Circle meeting after getting your own breakfasts
to plan our activites. |
| Mornings - |
Theoretical seminar / discussion / site visit. |
|
Afternoons - |
Practical hands-on work activity. |
|
Evenings - |
Social opportunities with varied options; educational Video,
music, walk to the nearby River Mira. |
| Sat. or Sun.- |
Beach or river experience. |
| 20/28 Oct. pm- |
Celebration with Pizza cooked in an Earth Oven
and Community fire circle. |
Outcomes>
Attending
either or both weeks
will help you:
-
Appreciate how renewable energy can really work for
you,
-
Know what solar, wind power and natural energy can
and can't do,
-
How to make and install a basic low-cost solar
water heating system,
-
To size and choose a solar/wind power system to
meet your needs.
-
How to adapt your lifestyle without compromise,
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To use different technologies confidently.
A very comprehensive course!
Be
prepared>
To find out
about our accommodation options and basic facilities, what you need to
bring and our social guidelines, plus contact and travel info: www.rainbowcommunities.org/About_Arco.htm
What
Next?
You are warmly welcome to stay after this course on a working holiday
basis – to integrate skills and knowledge and to help finish some of
the practical work including to install a full domestic solar+wind
electricity system!
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Simple DIY Solar Heater
Low-budget Solar Water Heater
and Electricity
"hi-tec" Solar Water Heating
(evacuated tubes)
Low-impact Solar !
PV mounting for Domestic
Solar Electricity
1KWatt PV Array
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