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Thu Nov 6 20:41:35 CET 2014
ter designs based upon practical feedback from users and builders.=C2=A0 Th=
ey met with manufacturers, examined their products, and placed bulk orders =
to produce solar installations for their members and participants at very c=
ompetitive prices.=C2=A0 The self-builders developed a new method to integr=
ate solar collectors directly into the roof and expanded the solar hot wate=
r systems into space-heating or combination systems as well which became mo=
re cost-efficient and popular as building insulation and air infiltration s=
tandards rose in the 1990s.=C2=A0 It is estimated that 50% of all the new s=
olar systems in Austria are now designed to serve both hot water and space =
heating needs, making it the leading market for solar combination systems t=
oday.<br>
<br>
A do it yourself group starts with an introductory lecture and a trip to ex=
isting self-built solar systems. The construction groups work with the help=
of technical leaders to build =F4=8F=B0=9Cfinished solar water systems. Th=
e average life of a construction group is usually three to four months.=C2=
=A0 The most remarkable characteristic of the members of the self-help grou=
p is that farmers and part-time farmers seem to be the largest adopters.<br=
>
<br>
Although the solar companies originally saw self-build groups as amateur co=
mpetition likely to botch the solar systems and installations, the success =
of the self-construction movement made solar more popular and certainly mor=
e visible.=C2=A0 Today, Austria has one of the highest penetrations of sola=
r thermal energy systems in the world and Austrian solar collector producer=
s are market leaders in the European market with one third of all solar sys=
tems sold there coming from their factories and workshops.<br>
<br>
I first learned about the Austrian self-build cooperatives in the magnifice=
nt Let It Shine:=C2=A0 The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy by John Perlin =
(Novato, CA:=C2=A0 New World Library, 2013 ISBN 978-1-60868-132-7) and foll=
owed his footnotes to Michael Ornetzeder and Harald Rohracher's origina=
l work:<br>
User-led innovations and participation processes: lessons from sustainable =
energy technologies<br>
Energy Policy 34 (2006) 138=E2=80=93150<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.musiklexikon.ac.at:8000/ita/ita-papers/Ornetzeder_Roh=
racher_Energy_Policy_2006.pdf" target=3D"_blank">http://www.musiklexikon.ac=
.at:8000/ita/ita-papers/Ornetzeder_Rohracher_Energy_Policy_2006.pdf</a><br>
Of solar collectors, wind power, and car sharing: Comparing and understandi=
ng successful cases of grassroots innovations<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:685433/FULLTEXT01.pdf=
" target=3D"_blank">http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:685433/FULLT=
EXT01.pdf</a><br>
<br>
Back in the day, in the late 1970s, I started something called the Solar Wo=
rk Group in the Boston area.=C2=A0 It was a group of people who met togethe=
r once a month or so to build simple solar devices.=C2=A0 We built a couple=
of water heaters out of copper sheet and tubing, helped a friend fix up hi=
s attached solar greenhouse, and projects like that.=C2=A0 At about the sam=
e time, the anti-nuclear movement was warming up in Western MA anbd in Sout=
hern NH over the proposed Seabrook nuclear power plants .=C2=A0 The Solar W=
ork Group rolled into the NE Coastal Power Show, a traveling energy show ho=
used in a big, old White van, an old bread truck, that went from Maine to W=
ashington DC, from Pennsylvania to Cape Cod over the next few years as an a=
ffinity group of the Clamshell Alliance, and presented energy efficiency, r=
enewables, and nuclear energy information to an estimated 250,000 million p=
eople throughout the Northeast.=C2=A0 We had a big parabolic trough hot wat=
er heater on the roof and a detachable windmill we could place on top of a =
mast on the van.=C2=A0 The van itself had a secondary battery that was char=
ged by the engine as we drove.=C2=A0 Solar cookers, hot water heaters, Stir=
ling engines, buttons, bumperstickers, pamphlets and books, we had more inf=
ormation than any one person could absorb.<br>
<br>
Also during that time period, another group of us formed the Urban Solar En=
ergy Association which soon became the "fastest growing" solar gr=
oup in the nation.=C2=A0 It also had monthly meetings and did solar barnrai=
sings, building solar attics, greenhouses, windowbox solar collectors, sola=
r hot air collectors, and solar water heaters.=C2=A0 The group went on for =
a number of years producing a do it yourself solar hot air heater manual, o=
ther technical reports, and a monthly newsletter.=C2=A0 Eventually, it merg=
ed with the MA Bay chapter of the Northeast Solar Energy Association to bec=
ome the Boston Area Solar Energy Association (<a href=3D"http://www.basea.o=
rg" target=3D"_blank">http://www.basea.org</a>) which still has monthly mee=
tings, lectures and presentations on the solar issues and technologies of t=
oday.<br>
<br>
In the last few years, the Home Energy Efficiency Team (<a href=3D"http://w=
ww.heetma.com" target=3D"_blank">http://www.heetma.com</a>) here in Cambrid=
ge has been doing weatherization barnraisings and a number of other communi=
ties have begun to do the same.=C2=A0 In five years, HEET has organized mor=
e than 225 energy-upgrade work parties, assisted with more than 50 solar in=
stallations, and trained more than 3,500 volunteers in hands-on skills in s=
aving energy.=C2=A0 There have been other weatherization and solar barnrais=
ing groups in Western MA, NH, ME, CA, and around the country.=C2=A0 Perhaps=
, if they institutionalized and organized themselves as well as the Austria=
n solar water heater group, they could multiply their impact.<br>
<br>
Austria's solar self-build movement has had a significant effect on tha=
t country's energy economics.=C2=A0 Can Ukraine do the same?=C2=A0 In N=
ovember 2014, I saw a BBC article (<a href=3D"http://www.bbc.com/news/busin=
ess-29840214" target=3D"_blank">http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29840214</=
a>) on Roman Zinchenko and Greencubator (<a href=3D"https://www.facebook.co=
m/greencubator" target=3D"_blank">https://www.facebook.com/greencubator</a>=
;=C2=A0 <a href=3D"http://greencubator.info" target=3D"_blank">http://green=
cubator.info</a>; @greencubator).=C2=A0 In that country, with its energy su=
pply dependent upon Russia, Zinchenko has been organizing hackathons - &quo=
t;off-grid, solar-powered meetings of an assortment of programmers, enginee=
rs, and bloggers set 'in the middle of nowhere'".=C2=A0 These =
events give birth to businesses like Ecois.me, an app being tested by Deuts=
che Telekom which helps households reduce energy consumption and works with=
a sensor installed in the electrical meter, and eCoopTaxi which combines e=
lectric cars, a taxi service, and open energy co-operation as a business mo=
del.=C2=A0 Greencubator is also building an "energy torrent", a p=
latform to encourage open-source energy tech designs and is about to "=
retrofit" an existing building in Kiev as a showcase for green initiat=
ives, an "architectural hackathon."<br>
<br>
Energy is power and power is politics.=C2=A0 All these examples are forms o=
f Solar Swadeshi, the locally productive nature of solar energy, and can fi=
t within the definitions of Gandhian economics, the formation of a non-viol=
ent economic system.<br>
<br>
Previously:<br>
Solar Swadeshi<br>
<a href=3D"http://solarray.blogspot.com/2005/05/solar-swadeshi-hand-made-el=
ectricity.html" target=3D"_blank">http://solarray.blogspot.com/2005/05/sola=
r-swadeshi-hand-made-electricity.html</a><br>
<br>
Personal Power Production:=C2=A0 Solar from Civil Defense to Swadeshi<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/10/919251/-Personal-Power-=
Production-160-Solar-from-Civil-Defense-to-Swadeshi" target=3D"_blank">http=
://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/10/919251/-Personal-Power-Production-160-=
Solar-from-Civil-Defense-to-Swadeshi</a><br>
<br>
Solar Barnraisings<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/05/470085/-Solar-Barnraisi=
ngs" target=3D"_blank">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/05/470085/-Sol=
ar-Barnraisings</a><br>
<br>
Old Solar:=C2=A0 1980 Barnraised Solar Air Heater<br>
<a href=3D"http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/07/05/527101/-Old-Solar-1980-=
Barnraised-Solar-Air-Heater" target=3D"_blank">http://www.dailykos.com/stor=
y/2008/07/05/527101/-Old-Solar-1980-Barnraised-Solar-Air-Heater</a></blockq=
uote></div><br clear=3D"all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class=3D"gmail_sign=
ature"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:=
=C2=A0<a href=3D"http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan" target=3D"=
_blank">http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan</a>=C2=A0</div><div>=
<br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href=3D"http://p2pfoundation.net" target=3D"_b=
lank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>=C2=A0 - <a href=3D"http://blog.p2pfounda=
tion.net" target=3D"_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a hr=
ef=3D"http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" =
target=3D"_blank"></a>Updates: <a href=3D"http://twitter.com/mbauwens" targ=
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<br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href=3D"http://enrichlist.org/the-complete=
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