tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post3239357147843656619..comments2023-08-25T02:36:13.575-05:00Comments on Yestermorrow Design/Build School - Think with your hands.: A Note on Solar Trackers from John Norton, Board PresidentKate Stephensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02206377749643009285noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-4955883270170394752012-12-08T05:18:27.789-05:002012-12-08T05:18:27.789-05:00Hey, thanks for sharing the topic. This is a very ...Hey, thanks for sharing the topic. This is a very beneficial information for the people who really want to know about solar trackers. I am hoping to view the same high-grade content on <a href="http://orionsolarracking.com/" rel="nofollow">solar trackers</a> from you later on as well.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651550400890913391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-53810735398259247722010-05-05T15:48:00.883-05:002010-05-05T15:48:00.883-05:00YM Staff & Board,
I was amazed and deeply sad...YM Staff & Board,<br /><br />I was amazed and deeply saddened to see the spruce grove on the north side of the YM driveway decimated. I was distressed and disappointed to learn that those magical trees were eliminated for the sake of a few more watts of solar power.<br /><br />Though I'm not privy to all the reasons or rationalizations for removing that grove, it appears that YM is once again putting cash flow ahead of the deeper mission and sanctity of the YM and broader community.<br /><br />That little triangle of space, guarded by living trees, was perhaps the most sacred site on the YM campus. It's the space in which I was called to build a stone medicine wheel for my Creating Sacred Space class in the Fall of 2006 - a class which was undermined by the narrow-mindedness and short-sightedness of then board member Bill Maclay. I suspect that the decimation of that sacred grove will bode ill for YM, and it will further incite the already-expressed concern about the siting of those PV panels.<br /><br />If I hadn't already quit teaching at YM because of its refusal to put health and safety above cash flow (the smoke-free campus issue), the wanton destruction of the sacred grove may have been the last straw for me. It's ironic that a local business such as the Paradise Deli has recently become a smoke-free establishment (inside, outside and in the parking lot), while the leading school of sustainable design continues to lag behind many institutions, including the most conservative ones. And it's doubly ironic that when school children are planting trees at the VT Food Bank (Kingsbury) Farm to improve the community and global environment, YM is engaged in slash and burn.<br /><br />- Robert RiversongAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-73958170018786031562010-05-05T12:08:07.307-05:002010-05-05T12:08:07.307-05:00Hello All,
Andrew Faust here. I would posit that ...Hello All,<br /><br />Andrew Faust here. I would posit that if "1)Yestermorrow must take<br />responsibility for its own energy consumption and production, to the extent practical, and it must do so with conservation and renewable energy, in its own backyard, not someone else's;<br /><br />Then I would say that there are numerous lower tech more ecological<br />and less green tech consumer ways to take responsibility i.e. the well is a huge energy drain which could be SIGNIFICANTLY diminished by more rainwater and gravity fed spring systems.<br /><br />I do not support this decision from my five years of teaching and <br />assessing this site and the Yestermorrow community I would have appreciated being included.We have generated a diversity of low-tech ways to increase ecological health in the way the needs are met here. High tech and tax incentives do not equal taking responsibility the are toxic in their manufacture and offer nothing but green tech token consumer products that are grid tied. They leave no autonomy they are complicated to build and maintain not in the DIY traditon of a design build school.<br /><br />Thank you for your time,<br /><br />Andrew Faust<br />The Center For Bioregional Living<br />www.homebiome.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-27480216488591029382010-04-19T07:58:19.021-05:002010-04-19T07:58:19.021-05:00Sucosh:
Well presented and welcome to the Presid...Sucosh:<br /> <br />Well presented and welcome to the President of the Board position!<br /> <br />I am biased toward the collectors and somewhat outside the loop on the scenic concerns, though sympathetic to those also. I would suggest that a site plan locating the collectors would help outsiders with constructive input.<br /> <br />My first inclination, without benefit of that site plan, is that assuming the school can plant in the meadow and buffer, some additional landscape plantings might actually improve the present scenic corridor while shielding<br />the collectors from direct view from the road. <br /> <br />Assuming this could be accomplished 100% I would think it might then be "under accomplished" to allow understanding from the road to the casual driver that this place YM (whatever it is) is part of the solar future. <br /> <br />If done right, this overall landscaping/solar project would demonstrate how to put solar collectors into a scenic highway making both goals compatible<br />and therefore more likely to be accomplished in the valley and elsewhere. The future should include large numbers of these installations along scenic<br />highways nationwide. The compatibility of the two is a very universal problem.<br /> <br />I think we have a landscaping problem not a solar collector problem. <br /> <br />My best,<br /> <br />John Ringel<br />Jersey Devil, LLCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-10793716229828510682010-04-19T07:56:09.080-05:002010-04-19T07:56:09.080-05:00Sucosh,
Excellent statement of the case. I can...Sucosh,<br />Excellent statement of the case. I can't wait to embrace the challenge.<br />If the Solar Decathalon can pursue net-zero with grace, then certainly we should give it a go.<br /><br />Whiners.....pick up your pencils!<br />John ConnellAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24722795.post-32179306415370524472010-04-15T16:39:50.685-05:002010-04-15T16:39:50.685-05:00From: William Bialosky
The problem I see with th...From: William Bialosky <br /><br />The problem I see with this process is that the 'design' for the next 5 years was developed in a small vacuum of the Board of Directors...which is not in and of itself a satisfactory means to build consensus around design decisions at YM.<br /><br />We get to debate about something we are powerless to affect for 5 years, doesn't sound like much fun.<br /><br />Most of us have absolutely no idea what the design looks like, other<br />than that it exists. For instance, I read into the description of 5 year temporary solution to mean that the trackers would be on trailers, not columns. The columns are probably better, but who knows, only you guys have seen what is proposed, then again maybe not.<br /><br />This process should have been more transparent with the YM community,<br />not unlike the new shop bldg which I think has been very transparent in the big scheme of things. It is not possible for any of us to really have an opinion or suggestion about design without visual tools. <br /><br />William Bialosky<br />BIALOSKY + PARTNERS ARCHITECTSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com