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DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

Help us teach hurricane victims in Baja Mexico how to build solar panels from recycled material!

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DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

DIY recycled solar panels for storm-bashed Baja MX

Help us teach hurricane victims in Baja Mexico how to build solar panels from recycled material!

Help us teach hurricane victims in Baja Mexico how to build solar panels from recycled material!

Help us teach hurricane victims in Baja Mexico how to build solar panels from recycled material!

Help us teach hurricane victims in Baja Mexico how to build solar panels from recycled material!

Keith Bonarrigo
Keith Bonarrigo
Keith Bonarrigo
Keith Bonarrigo
1 Campaign |
San Juanico, Mexico
$1,196 USD 19 backers
9% of $12,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Our group has taught residents of rural Baja, Mexico how to build affordable solar panels from recycled material since 2010. Our mission is to enable these people to improve their own lives by providing hands-on training and material to create their own solar electricity. Solar panels and electric gear of all types can be prohibitively expensive for many residents of Mexico, especially Baja. Many residents in remote areas live their day-to-day lives without access to electricity due to the combined logistics and cost of acquiring solar panels. In addition, on September 15th 2014, hurricane Odile slammed into the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. This was the largest hurricane on record to hit Baja and its destruction was widespread. It displaced some 30,000 people, destroyed entire low-lying neighborhoods/villages, and flooded both Baja and mainland Mexico with record rainfalls. Many lost everything in its wake and this has widened the gap in access to electricity for years to come.


We want to play our part in helping the victims of this storm to rebuild their homes with DIY renewable power. Our workshop students build working solar panels with cosmetically rejected (but functional) solar cells that we acquire from the waste stream of the solar industry. We use frame building material that is either recycled/repurposed or is locally available and affordable. This enables us to create hand-made solar panels at a fraction of the cost of a similar panel created in a factory. Students leave with a basic understanding of solar theory and solar panel construction so that they continue building more panels for themselves and their families. This training also enables them to troubleshoot and fix others' non-functional solar gear of whatever origin. Our methods have always been geared primarily toward local Baja residents who do not have the financial means to purchase retail solar equipment, although we do also teach students and solar enthusiasts. 


We have operated primarily in and around the San Juanico area, which is where we founded the program. Our base facility is named "El Rancho Solar" and this is where we have run the majority of our workshops, developed/tested our designs, interfaced with the local community, and hosted guest campers/students. We offer this facility as a workshop resource for any of our students to come for solar guidance of virtually any kind. We maintain a converted Airstream trailer as our primary work space, which we open to students to help them succeed in whatever solar project they take on. 


We've provided a base platform to provide solar power and knowledge to hundreds of residents in our area and we're now taking our workshops to other communities in a mobile format. We can take this training and material to help these storm-battered communities to rebuild with affordable, sustainable power


There are a number of areas where we want to scale our facility, gear, and curriculum to reach more people. We need funds to increase our reach and further develop our program. 

Here's how your donation can make an impact:

- Your donation can provide more storm area workshop material.  This project has been primarily self-funded up to this point. We had been building this campaign prior to hurricane Odile, which has only underscored the need for us to extend our reach and goals. We want to focus on the ravaged southern Baja tip area with our mobile solar workshop efforts to aid its residents in their difficult and expensive building process. We can get bulk solar material to build roughly 80 of our 80-Watt panel designs for about $1000. This 80 watt output is sufficient to power a small shack or home with lights, fans, small electronics, etc. By providing training and the distribution of this solar material, we can begin our part in rebuilding these communities once immediate storm relief efforts are complete.

- You can help us make mobile workshops happen by providing repair and maintenance for our full-sized Econoline van, which acts as our mobile solar workshop. It's tough, lifted, roomy, and can get us and our gear to virtually whatever destination we need to get to on the Baja peninsula...which isn't easy sometimes - and especially right now. It's big enough that we can literally run a small workshop inside of it in the event we don't have a better option for a workshop location. It's really important to have a solid vehicle in Baja. Roads and environmental factors can be very treacherous and we access remote places, far from any kind of paved road type infrastructure. This type of rugged, off-road driving takes a huge toll on motor vehicles. Our van currently needs some engine repair, and then there is a constant stream of maintenance issues that come with driving any vehicle through this environment. You can help us keep this van going which will  bring workshops to other areas and get us to people that otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. - $1,000

- Help us make more tools available to our workshop students. We allow our students to use our workshop resources to help them succeed. We could use all sorts of tools and equipment for our workshop and mobile workshop campaign - everything from multimeters to welding equipment to sautering irons, 18 volt tool kits, Dremels, chop saws, grinders, etc. We have a long list of needs here. We can get more done for more people with a good, working tool library - $2,000

- Let's broadcast this. With reliable, working internet and some very basic computer gear we can begin to develop a  remote workshop campaign. We get inquiries from different places in the world from people who want to set up their own solar power. We want to have the ability to run workshops in various physical locations and enable those in other places to attend our solar workshops virtually. A web cam and internet service local runs about $1000/yr. The development of additional web-based teaching aids would be about $1500. These aids would be nice to have and helpful in setting up a more complete virtual learning experience.

- Scale the power system capacity in our workshop. We currently operate a number of tools, lights, computers, and various other devices from a very small-scale battery system. This system has served as a good working example of a power system comprised of smaller-grade gear. We'll keep this system in service for demonstration purposes but we'd like to be able to run a more powerful battery system to accommodate more students and more serious tools. Having this capability to run larger tools would allow us to take on more involved fabrication projects for the community and host more people at our facility comfortably. This would entail the setup of a larger deep-cycle battery bank and a higher capacity charge controller/inverter. - $2,000

- Improve our facilities for our students and guests with a more sustainable bathroom arrangement. We're currently using an outhouse which is less than ideal when hosting even a small group. We'd like to install a  septic system/bathroom on our base facility in order to host larger groups on our facility without damaging effects to the environment. This would entail the excavation and construction of a septic system, grey water reuse system/garden, and bathroom hut - $3,000-4000

Enabling us with these funds would help to ensure the continuation of our effort and would provide power and training for someone in need.

This is an independent fundraiser, however our project is fiscally sponsored by Waves for Development International, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt public charity who believes that surf travel should benefit the people and the communities where it happens. Please see their website at: 

http://www.wavesfordevelopment.org/

If you can't contribute funds, please tell your friends, share our website, join our facebook group, and check out our twitter campaigns to help us spread the word and cause.

If you have questions or comments on our team, organization, mission or goals please feel free to contact us via our website or facebook group - we stand behind what we do and we always welcome interaction and feedback.

http://greengosolar.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/greengogroup/

https://twitter.com/greengoproject

Muchissimas gracias,

the Green Go Solar Team

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Choose your Perk

featured

You Get a Shirt!

$50 USD
¡Camisa! You're getting a shirt (and a sticker and diagrams)! Wear it with solar-powered pride, as you're really helping us get this done.
3 claimed

Big smiles

$1 USD
Thank you!!! Your dollar will find a good home helping someone who needs light. We can't tell you how much we appreciate the support and for every one dollar donation we receive, we're all going to smile real big - just from your personal donation :)
1 claimed

¡Muchas gracias!

$10 USD
Wow - thanks. Not only do you make us smile but your donation really gets us on our way to lighting someone's home. You can feel good about that as you watch us put your donation to work for someone in need. Way to go and thank you so much.
1 claimed

Calcamonia (Sticker)

$15 USD
Hey that's great...you deserve a sticker! Your generous donation will help power our program...that's almost enough to create a panel from an old window. Please put your sticker someplace visible and help us spread the word.
5 claimed

Sticker and Solar Illustration

$25 USD
¡Gracias! We'll send you a sticker and a set of our cool solar diagram illustrations. They were created by created by Mateo Howard, a local San Juanico artist. These are the same guides we use for our workshops. They are virtually language-free and use mostly illustration with a tiny bit of Spanish. The look cool in frames too.
4 claimed

All this plus solar infamy

$100 USD
We're going to send you all of the above, and we're going to put your name on our panel of fame...we and our students will be constructing a large, decorative panel for our workshop facility around this drive and we're going to have a large section where we will be placing a special thanks to you by adding your name here. You will live in Baja solar infamy as a solar teaching tool and example.
1 claimed

We're going surfing!

$500 USD
We're going surfing! You're getting all the other stuff plus you just bought yourself guest of honor status attendance to one of our upcoming Baja workshops at el Rancho Solar in San Juanico and Keith is giving you a private surf lesson (surf/weather permitting).
0 claimed

Solar, Surfing, Pickup, Posada

$1,000 USD
Everything above plus 2 nights at our facility or a local San Juanico hotel. Plus we're picking you up/drop you off at the Loreto airport (the closest airport to us)...which is really no small deal...San Juanico is very very remote. *Airfare not included.
0 claimed

We're going mobile...

$1,500 USD
The whole deal above plus you're coming with us to a nearby area for a mobile solar workshop. You're going to teach solar panel construction with us as we take it on the road to a nearby community in need.
0 claimed
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