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>Help us realize our dream of a Solar School! > >Last updated on February 25, 2002 >We need volunteers from various backgrounds to help >with a long-term project. We have a building with a >very unique and interesting design. We built a school >in an old greenhouse. It's a great space for >daylighting and some forms of passive solar heat (we >were on the Solar Homes Tour last year). However, we >would like to exploit this wonderful opportunity to >its full potential. We would like to add incremental >improvements, from tightening up the building envelope >to adding p/v capacity, solar water & pool heating, >and so on--until we achieve energy self-sufficiency. >The most immediate concern is night heat loss >(ironically, the building burns the most fossil fuel >when no one's using it--then turns off for large parts >of the day when the people are there. We would like to >explore ways to store heat, add collection capacity, >solar to heat our pool, etc. We also may want to >redesign part of the structure to best take advantage >of these possibilities (This Old House, Extreme Homes, >are you listening?. It's a tall order--but a great >idea for a fully off-the-grid school! There is no end >to our imagination: an electric or AFV school >bus...small wind system....greywater >recycling....composting toilets...who knows what we >can accomplish if we do it bit by bit? Volunteers are >needed for everything from seeking grants to finding >supplies to design and installation. We are a small >school and we have made it a point to ground ourselves >in the community, serving a large proportion of >low-income families in our mix of kids. The downside >is that we have no huge endowment and circles of rich >friends to lean on. We do quite well on our own, >raising money through our own fundraising (handmade >paper and soap, inkjet cartridge recycling) but for a >project this size we also need some creative and >flexible approaches. We also have an architect and >former teacher who has patented a design for a roofing >panel system for passive solar heat. She would love to >use our school as a trototype if we could find an >interested backer. If any of these prospects intrigue >you, this is thr project for you! Please also visit >our agency listing to learn more about our school >(click below on the link to The Greenhouse School). >Also check out our other opportunities. For an >enrollment application or other info not available >here, please contact the scool directly through >contacts below. >For the more sophisticated aspects of such a project, >volunteers would need some sort of design or building >expertise. However, many tasks will involve simple >commitments where enthusiasm for the idea and the >school are the main ingredients. We welcome anyone who >might help us. >This opportunity is sponsored by: The Greenhouse >School > >Contact people: > Daniel Patrick Welch, Administrative Director, >978-745-4549, wpdanny@aol.com >Julia Nambalirwa-Lugudde, Assistant Director, >978-745-4549, jnambalirwa@aol.com >Patricia Jennings-Welch, Executive Director, >978-745-4549 > > >Address: >145 Loring Avenue >Salem, MA 01970
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