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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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