Renewable Energy Workshop in Nicaragua

Learn Renewable Energy in Nicaragua with SEI this November! SEI is teaming up with Grupo Fenix once again to offer a Renewable Energy for the Developing World workshop in rural northern Nicaragua. Participants will stay with families in Sabana Grande, a rural community that has embraced renewable energy technologies. Install a PV lighting system with local Nicaraguan technicians and build solar ovens with the solar women's group. Learn first-hand how renewable energy technologies can help improve the lives of people in the developing world.

For more information or to register click here.

ICOUP honored with World Clean Energy Award

The very first World Clean Energy Awards were presented June 15, at the traditional "Faktor 4- Festival" in Basel, Switzerland to honor the world's premiere projects promoting the large-scale use of renewable energies. From 70 nominated projects, a high-profile jury of experts picked nine winners of the international renewable energy Oscars, who traveled to Switzerland from as far away as Abu Dhabi, China, India, Kenya, Sweden and the Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux Indian Reservations in the United States to receive their awards at the Congress Center in Basel.

In this awards process, Europe and the World recognized the work and aspirations of the Tribes of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (COUP). Intertribal COUP was singled out for the jury's "Special Award for Courage" for their innovative plan to build utility-scale tribal wind projects on reservations in the northern Great Plains through the Intertribal COUP/Rosebud Sioux Environmental Justice Revitalization Project: Tribal Wind Power Demonstration Project Plan.

For more information visit Native Wind or ICOUP's website.

Going Solar in Boulder

Renewable Energy will be going strong in Boulder, Colorado this September. The Center for ReSource Conservation (CRC) will be hosting a Solar Week September 23 - 30 including a Solar Conference and Expo, a series of Educational Workshops on sustainable energy and building technologies, and a tour of solar and green built homes.

SEI will be participating in Boulder's Solar Week by offering a workshop on Photovoltaic Design and Installation, September 17 - 22. Participants in the PV Design & Installation course learn how to use PV technology to produce electricity from the sun through practical design and installation of PV systems.

For more information or to register, visit www.conservationcenter.org

Offshore Wind - US lagging behind Europe

There are those who believe that the permitting process for the Cape Wind project is moving too fast, who regard the first offshore wind farm proposal in the U.S. with the same caution one might apply to the introduction of a new, unproven line of pharmaceuticals. There are also those who cannot comprehend the ponderous nature of our permitting process, having answered half a generation ago those questions that many in America still insist are untested and unresolved.

For Europeans, a full generation ahead of the U.S. in offshore wind development, there is nothing 'experimental' about the technology. According to Chris Stimpson and Charles Kleekamp of Clean Power Now, "They're at the top of the ninth while we're still looking for the dugout."

Stimpson and Kleekamp discuss the gap between European and U.S. offshore wind development on RenewableEnergyAccess.com. Read the entire article by clicking here.

Campus Corner

SEI’s Sustainable Building Program kicked off this summer by working on several projects on our Eco-Campus in Paonia, Colorado. Participants from all over the world built a straw bale shade structure with a cob bench, and a light straw clay partition wall. The bench even has a built in Darth Vader with glow in the dark eyes (courtesy of some solar powered LED lights). Participants also plastered the interior of the straw bale shed which was built in the April Straw Bale Design & Construction workshop. SEI is excited to continue to offer workshop participants an in-depth hands-on experience and an opportunity to participate in the evolution of our Eco-Campus.

Upcoming Sustainable Building workshops include Sustainable Home Design Online, August 6- September 14 and October 29- December 7.

Your Generosity Ensures our Success!

SEI would like to welcome new members! As a membership-based non-profit, SEI's members are the heart of our organization and allow us to continue our educational programs. SEI Staff are passionate about the work we do and membership dues help sustain our renewable energy endeavors.

Please join us! Membership benefits include (depending on membership level) discounts on workshops, a one year subscription to either Home Power magazine or E magazine, an organic cotton/hemp SEI t-shirt, a SEI bumpersticker, and more!

Click here for details on how to become an SEI member.

To all SEI members . . . SEI sends thanks!