Black Rock Solar got its start at Black Rock City and each year we return, plugging into District Everywhere, a camp where all of the extended Burning Man outreach groups (Burners without Borders, The Regionals Network,  Black Rock Solar and Black Rock Arts Foundation) gather and host events.

Each year, you can find District Everywhere, and all the outreach groups you’ve ever dreamed of, at 6:30 and Esplanade, next to the Artery.

2010

Solar Sessions at District Everywhere, BRC 2010

This year, Black Rock Solar hosted our first-ever Solar Sessions at District Everywhere. The goal of the Solar Sessions was to bring people together who are working on and/or are interested in renewable innovations on and off the playa.  We know that everything on playa takes about three years to manifest, and so for our first year’s attempt at renewable learning, we invited Dr. Ge-Off from AE-Zone, Calamity Charles from the Airport and Ember aka Larry Breed, the inventor of the Gray-B-Gon, to facilitate conversations throughout the afternoon.

Dr. Geoff talks to Black Rock citizens about the affordability of solar on playa

Dr. Ge-Off started the Solar sessions off with an overview of the Alternative Energy Zone (AE-Zone), a camp for folks who want to self-produce their own renewable power on playa. Dr. Geoff was the Mayor of AE Zone in 2010, and he brought a hand-out for folks interested in investing in solar power for their Black Rock camping/rv experience.The AE-Zone’s website is chock full of resources and on playa, the AE Zone provides daily tours at 11:11.

Below is the handout Dr. Ge-Off brought to the Playa.

Ember and Calamity Charles discussing merging wind and solar power on a demonstration project

Then Calamity Charles and Ember shared the stage and discussed their experiences and innovations with solar and wind, respectively. Both inventers have been inspired and frustrated by the grey water evaporation needs on playa. Calamity Charles built a solar shower last year but was unhappy with his grey water evap pond. He came to the Solar Sessions to discuss his designs and to brainstorm new ideas and solutions.

Calamity Charles discusses ways to improve his solar shower design with Ember

Ember showed up with the Gray-B-Gon wind-powered evapotron for graywater disposal. Calamity Charles loved the design and he and Ember spent much of the afternoon, together with a few doctors in the house, discussing how to merge the solar shower with the Gray-B-Gon. Their conversation was so productive, they’ve decided to create a demonstration project for next year’s event. Watch out 2011-the Solar Shower Gray-be-Gon will go LIVE!!

Anyone interested in participating/helping with this project should contact Ember or Calamity Charles.
Email: Ember-at-Burningman.com or
Charles  via Petrie-at-Stanford.Edu

Black Rock Solar’s first-year Solar Sessions were a great success and we look forward to producing them again in 2011–so that together with our fellow Black Rock Citizens– we will manifest bigger, brighter and more renewable futures for our planet and playa. Please contact us if you have ideas, inventions or want to contribute. See you soon!