Eco Friendly Real Estate Blog

According to the New Mexico Business Weekly, El Paso Electric has signed an agreement to buy all the electricity from a concentrating solar power plant to be built in southern New Mexico by NRG Energy Inc.

The plant, to be built on a 450-acre site in Sunland Park, about 10 miles from El Paso, will produce 92 megawatts of electricity. It will be   the first commercial-scale solar thermal project in New Mexico. It is hoped that the construction of the power plant will be completed by the summer of 2011.

Concentrating solar power plants use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that convert it to heat. The heat can then be used to produce steam to drive a turbine and produce electricity.

This project will help realize renewable energy potential here. We have an average of 300 days of sun every year and this is an efficient way to harness that solar energy.

Lest anyone think that this is new or untried technology, here is an excerpt from a document published by the US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Solar Energies Technologies Program:

Two large-scale power tower demonstration projects have been deployed in the United States. During its operation from 1982 to 1988, the 10-megawatt Solar One plant near Barstow, California, demonstrated the viability of power towers, producing more than 38 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The Solar Two plant was a retrofit of Solar One to demonstrate the advantages of molten salt for heat transfer and thermal storage. Using its highly efficient molten-salt energy storage system, Solar Two successfully demonstrated efficient collection of solar energy and dispatch of electricity. It also demonstrated the ability to routinely produce electricity during cloudy weather and at night. In one demonstration, Solar Two delivered power to the grid for 24 hours a day for almost seven consecutive days before cloudy weather interrupted operation.

Here are just some of the events coming up in the near futureto help you learn about gardening here in the Land of Enchantment.

• Friends of Rio Grande Community Farm are hosting work days at the farm over the next several weeks and volunteers are needed.  Come out and contribute your time to assist with the development of a state of the art agricultural project designed to increase local food production for APS and beyond.  Volunteers are particularly needed this Friday 1-5pm and Saturday 8:30 - 5pm (Feb 20 and 21).  All volunteers are appreciated and greatly needed!  For more information contact Minor Morgan at (505) 379-1640. 

• High Value Fruit Production for Small Acreage, the last session of the Urban Farming Series conducted by the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension will be held on February 21^st from 9-4pm at the Historic Hubbell House in the South Valley of Albuquerque.  A $10 lunch/workshop fee applies.  For more information contact Jeff Bader at (505) 243-1386.

• Come out to Community Garden Seed Exchange on Sunday, February 22, from 12-4pm at the South Valley Economic Development Center located at 318 Isleta Blvd. SW in Albuquerque, just south of Bridge.  "Bring the seeds you have to share, take the seeds you need to grow!  Come have some fun with the whole family!"  For more information please contact Heather Rowley at heather_rowley@hotmail.com or Tim Nisly at timn@svedc.org (see flier attached)

• Cold Frame Workshop- Learn how to start you plants early!!  This event is scheduled for Saturday, February 28 at 1pm.  The workshop is hosted by Project Renaissance and will take place at Dragon Farm, 3416 Blake Rd. SW.  Master Gardener Ron Jobe will direct the workshop. $5.00 Donation Appreciated.  For more information contact Richard Brandt at  rembrandtrocks@yahoo.com 

• 2009 NM Organic Farming Conference will be held on February 27^th and 28^th in sunny Las Cruces.  For more information, contact Farm to Table at (505) 473-1004 or ladams@cybermesa.com

• 2009 International Xeriscape Conference and Expo will be held on February 26^th and 27^th at the Marriot Pyramid Hotel.  The sub-topic of this event is Watershed-Foodshed. The conference will be followed by a two-day Expo at the NM fairgrounds on February 28^th and March 1^st.  For more information contact the Xeriscape Council of NM at (505) 468-1021

• Creating an Urban Food Forest, a free workshop will take place on March 22, 12-4pm at Sanchez Farm Open Space in the South Valley of Albuquerque.  The hands-on workshop will be led by Jen Prosser, a practicing herbalist, farmer, permaculturist and owner of Sunstone Herbs.  For more information, or to RSVP contact Colleen Langan at  calangan@bernco.gov 

I was intrigued by an article in the NEW MEXICO BUSINESS WEEKLY about a local organization that assists the homeless to gain the skills, the assistance and the confidence they need to reclaim their lives. The event is billed as a STREET RETREAT and is being used mostly by spiritually based groups to encourage people to understand at a deeper level what it really feels like to be homeless. The retreat is described as an intentional placement of people into a situation in which they are groundless and anything might happen. The difference,for most situations, is that there is usually a facilitator who is watching out for the participants and these participants know that this is a limited time experience for them- they will go back to wherever it is they came from to have the experience but most of them go back as changed people. For the most part, the groups who are sponsoring these events are also using them not only as a fund raiser but as a tool for people to explore their own spiritual grounding. For this reason and because they are there by choice it may seem to be an inauthentic experience.

Here is an article from a participant in an Ottowa Street Retreat about her experience. It may surprise you.

These events are taking place in many communities around the country and in different variations around the world. The aim is not only to raise money for the charity sponsoring the event but to have people really experience living on the street without options. Anyone who has been the victim of an event like some of the large California wildfires or Hurricane Katrina can tell you what it feels like better than most. Just think for a moment about how well you, or most people you know would do at even following the directions given on the website of the Peacemaker Institute to prepare for going on a Street Retreat:

Do not shave, nor wash your hair for five days prior to the retreat. This will also start your street experience prior to leaving home.

1. Wear old clothes, as many layers as you feel appropriate for the time of year, and do not bring any change of clothes for the retreat, except for an extra pair of socks.

2. Wear good, but not new, walking shoes.

3. Bring one piece of Photo ID only, your Driver's License or a State I.D. with your picture on it.

4. Do not bring any money (except for one-way bus fare from Boulder to Denver - approx. $3.85), illegal drugs, alcohol, weapons, or cell phones.

5. Do not wear any jewelry, including earrings and watches.

Besides the clothes you are wearing, bring only an empty bag (shopping, plastic) or small (not new) day pack for collecting food from shelters, etc. You should not bring any books, conveniences, etc.

A lot of us, and a lot of people we know would never make it past the first instruction without considerable discomfort- and for us it would be a choice - which it is not for many homeless people. Many of us believe we can't even go on vacation without taking a cell phone. Imagine life with no access to a telephone at all unless you can talk someone into letting you use theirs or beg money from someone for a pay phone. Meals come from a soup kitchen, or are shared by whomever has been able to get food that day. Some of it is from the trash if that's all there is. If you want to participate in an upcoming Street Retreat in Albuquerque,you can find information here about St. Martin's Hospitality Center and their upcoming retreat at the end of January.

IF YOU PREFER TO JUST GIVE MONEY TO HOUSE THE HOMELESS GO HERE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE HOUSE THAT ACTIVE RAIN IS BUILDING. WE ONLY HAVE $125.00 donated so far to build one of these homes in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. A lot of people were made homeless through no fault of their own and now for $150,000 a great sustainable home designed to be both green and safe can be built to replace those homes. There are enough AR members to build a house if everyone gave less than the price of one Big Mac....