Workshop: Green Homes & Renewable Energy in the Riviera Maya, November 6-8, 2008

CANCELLED!

Regrettably, the workshop has been cancelled.

The number of registrations has not come close to the number needed to cover the workshop's expenses, and I can't imagine getting enough registrations in the next two weeks or so. Only Miguel and one other person registered, even though thousands looked at various Web sites and postings about it.

Centro Ecológico Akumal plans to hold a workshop on sustainable construction in November. I'll post details when they're set.

I might plan another workshop on green homes when the global economy ever recovers.

In the U.S., you could check the workshop schedule for the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (www.the-mrea.org) if you want to take some courses.

Ed Blume
********

Green Homes & Renewable Energy in the Riviera Maya, a three day workshop, will be November 6-8, 2008, in Akumal, Mexico, 70 miles south of Cancun.

Co-sponsored by Yucatan Environmental Foundation, a U.S. 501(c)(3), and RENEW Wisconsin, a non-profit promoting renewable energy.

November 6 - Green building and remodeling techniques and tools, including water and waste management
Presenter: Sherrie Gruder, Sustainable Design Specialist, LEED Accredited Professional

November 7 - Using the sun to make electricity and hot water
Presenter: John Hippensteel, Lake Michigan Wind and Sun*
Participants in this workshop will learn the basics of photovoltaic systems. They will learn to define PV, understand how PV works, identify the four PV system types, describe and identify components, understand the best application and limitations of each system type, define the solar window, understand energy efficiency and load estimates, identify PV mounting types and understand the basics of site assessment tools.

November 8 - Using wind to generate electricity
Presenter: John Hippensteel, Lake Michigan Wind and Sun*
This workshop is for people who have an interest in residential size wind systems for their home or business. This course will inform participants as to what wind energy is, how it works and what it can do for you. Topics will include: wind resources, basic system components, system types, turbine types, applications, and tower types.

November 8 - Installation tours
The workshops will end with a tour of wind and solar installations in homes and businesses in the Akumal area -- solar hot water on CEA dorms; solar electricity on the home of Bart Smith; solar hot water and electricity and wind turbines at Centro Ecologico Sian Ka'an in Tulum.

For more information, contact Ed Blume.


* With the explosive demand for wind and solar installations, John cannnot be 100% certain that he can get free in November. If he can't, the instructor will be someone of equal intelligence and expertise.

Organized by Eco-Yucatan, Inc. and Ed Blume, Director of Communications and Outreach for RENEW Wisconsin, a non-profit promoting renewable energy.

Registration

Green Homes & Renewable Energy in the Riviera Maya
Akumal, México, Nov. 6-8, 2008
Your name:

Business or organization name (if appropriate):

Mailing address:

E-Mail:

Phone (day time):
Phone (evening):

Register for one, two , or three days:

$325 (USD) all three days.
$250 (USD) for any two days. Specify the days:
$125 (USD) for any one day. Specify the days:

Registration includes breakfast and lunch.

Make check payable to: Yucatan Environmental Foundation

Print and complete registration form; mail to:

Yucatan Environmental Foundation
c/o Eco-Yucatán, Inc.
PO Box 2702
Madison, WI 53701-2702

Help us tailor the workshops to your interests:

What type of green or renewable energy installations interest you?



Where would the installation be—condo, single family home, business (please specify type of business)?



What do you want to get out of the workshop?

Alexandro Beltran, Akumal snorkel guide

2008 Akumal summer camp for young people and parents

From an article on the Sac Be Web site:

Just Imagine Vacations along with Hotel Akumal Caribe has created the perfect Eco-tourist, Multi-cultural Adventurous Summer Camp for Tweens and Parents.

This summer camp is designed to entertain, educate and inspire young people as well as build character and expand cultural experiences; at the same time create an enjoyable vacation for young people and their parents by providing activities they can do together and apart. Parents can indulge in some pampering in paradise while we keep your tweens busy, or you may decide to do some educational activities with the young people.

The experience is based on educational, fun experiences that include: environmental studies, history, Spanish language, Maya Culture, and more – all with a hands on approach.

Online auction to support Centro Ecologico Akumal

CEA's Online Auction Opens Feb. 11!Preview a few of the items!
Save the Sea Festival
Feb. 20-21, 2008
Akumal, MexicoA celebration of ocean conservation and support for
Centro Ecológico Akumal

Recycling day, June 5

We invite you to participate in a municipal-wide recycling event, Tuesday, June 5, as part of World Environment Day. Please bring your PET (plastics), aluminum, glass, electronics, paper and cardboard to CEA. The paper and cardboard will be donated for production of free school books. Drop-off points are: CEA, Casa de Cultura of Tulúm and the Municipal Office in Playa del Carmen.

Playa del Carmen – Plaza 28 de Julio from 8 AM to 4 PM
Akumal – Centro Ecológico Akumal from 9 AM to 1 PM
Tulúm – Casa de la Cultura de Tulúm from 9 AM to 1 PM

Divers claim largest underwater cave

This story by Mark Stevenson from RawStory.com (March 6, 2007) brings to mind Greg Brown, a well-known cave diver who passed away a couple of years ago, a few months after leaving Akumal. He probed the cracks and crevises running beneath Akumal to make the same point, e.g., pollution in one place gets to another place and then to the ocean. Damn, I miss him, even as quirky as he was.

A pair of cave divers said Monday they have found subterranean passages in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula that constitute the world's longest underwater cave system.

British cave diver Steve Bogaerts said he and Robbie Schmittner, of Germany, found flooded underground passages connecting two previously known cave systems - a discovery that shows how interconnected and vulnerable the Yucatan's fabled underground water system is. . . .

For thousands of years, Mayan Indians depended on water found in the caves and in lakes formed by sinkholes - areas where the caves' ceilings collapsed, opening them to the surface. The lakes dot the Yucatan peninsula, now one of the world's fastest-growing sites for tourism and resort developments. . . .

Bogaerts said his dives proved a connection between the Nohoch Nah Chich caves and the Sac Actun system, which together measure 95 miles in length. That connection shows that many of the seemingly isolated watering holes are part of a single larger system, he said. . . .

"That's the important thing for people to understand. ... The point is that they're so interconnected," Bogaerts said. "There are so many cave systems that if there's a point of pollution in any one particular area it can spread very extensively throughout the entire system."