August 19th, 2010 | Published in News
On August 30, 2010 NV State Highway 447 is proclaimed to be America’s Solar Highway, with more watts of distributed solar per mile, than anywhere in the USA! That’s 451kW along 75 miles of highway, 17 watts per mile!
June 14th, 2010 | Published in News
June 14, 2010 ∗ BRS blog entry
Here at Black Rock Solar we’re gearing up for our second annual SolarStice fundraiser at Great Basin Brewing Co. in Sparks, Nevada from 4-8 pm on Saturday June 26th. We’re raising money for the Lyon County Fire Department to put a 30 kW solar array on their station in Fernley. Budget cuts and the economy have really taken their toll on the department, and this array will save firefighters more than $6,500 every year over the life of the system, which is at least 25 years!
We hope you can come out and support us at the fundraiser. Get ready for heaps of fun music by Mojo Green and:
Great beer including:
• Cerveza Chilibeso
• Old Fitz Bourbon Barrel Barlywine
• Nevada Gold,
• The world famous Ichthyosaur India Pale Ale
Raffle and silent auction “Everything You Need For Burning Man” including:
• Two tickets to Burning Man
• 18 bags of ice from Arctica
• Plane ride
• Guided art tour
• Catered dinner on the playa
• Evening on an Art Car with Jerry Snyder
• Bikes, bandannas, batteries, and bins
• A ride up in a 100-foot tall crane with a panoramic view of Black Rock City
• More than 50 prizes!
Legendary food menu at Great Basin Brewing Co. includes:
• Garlic Fries
• Willy Dillys
• Grilled Mushroom Quesadilla
• Pacific Crest Cobb Salad
• Brewery Fish and Chips
• Salmon Tacos with Mango Salsa
• Sausage Platter
Fashion show by PolyEsther Dunaway!
Great Basin Brewing Co. is located at 846 Victorian Ave. Sparks, Nevada. (775) 355-7711
Questions? Give us a shout. We’ll see you there!
June 9th, 2010 | Published in News
Black Rock Solar
City of Reno’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiative
By Jason Geddes, Ph.D.
City of Reno’s Corporation Yard with Solar Panels
In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint and lower its energy bills, the City of Reno began an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiative under the City Council Green Priority.
The first step was selection of an Energy Services Company (ESCo) through the competitive Request for Proposal process. In August of 2008, the City selected APS Energy Services (APSES) as its ESCo. APSES began a year-long financial-grade audit including electricity, natural gas, and water use at all City facilities. The audit was completed in August of 2009 and submitted to City staff.
In June of 2009, the Council approved a series of projects and more projects were approved in September of 2009. The projects involve solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, a wind turbine demonstration program, solar thermal heating systems, lighting retrofits, control systems, and a variety of HVAC upgrades. More details on projects and their status are available at the Around the Arch blog and the Green pages at www.Reno.Gov.
As part of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Initiative under the Green Priority, the City of Reno is installing solar PV and solar thermal systems on City facilities. The systems installed to date include a 50-kW array at the Corporation Yard, which came on-line in December 2008 and a 30-kW array on the Downtown Parking Gallery, which is intended to offset the power usage of the West Street Market. Most recently, the City installed a 180-kW array on the Downtown Events Center, the largest system rebated through the NV Energy RenewableGenerations program.
The City has also engaged in installing wind turbines to offset its energy load and demonstrate to the citizens how the new generation of urban wind turbines compares to the old style wind turbines. Two to three turbines will be installed near each other with an anemometer to measure wind speeds and show energy output versus manufacturer listed output. The sites that have been selected are on top of City Hall, on top of the Downtown Parking Gallery, Mira Loma Park, and the Stead Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Green Initiative represents an investment of $18,787,841 in renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects. The entire balance is funded through a combination of grants, rebates, and energy savings requiring no funds from the general fund. When all the projects are on-line, the City will save 6,800,000 kW hours and 225,000 therms per year and will lower its carbon footprint by 17,200,000 pounds of CO2 each and every year.
Jason Geddes is the Environmental Services Administrator for the City of Reno.
LINKS & RESOURCES
APSES http://www.apses.com/
Reno Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Initiative http://www.ci.reno.nv.us/index.aspx?page=2000
Reno Government Site/Green Pages http://www.reno.gov
Around the Arch blog http://www.reno.gov/index.aspx?page=1730
NV Energy RenewableGeneration Program
http://www.nvenergy.com/renewablesenvironment/renewablegenerations/
May 7th, 2010 | Published in News
Well, the Earth Day weekend of April 24 was a big one for Black Rock Solar!
Over that weekend, we sponsored the beer garden at the Los Angeles Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI). An odd pairing, you might say, solar power and sandwiches, but we think it’s a match made in heaven. Kind of like bread and cheese.
See, we got to help the event be able to offer beer, and in return got a nice tasty slice of donations to support out educational and outreach efforts.
“The Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI) is the largest, craziest, and most exciting Grilled Cheese cooking contest in the country and is the best thing to happen to sliced cheese since sliced bread! The GCI promotes an almost scary pursuit of perfection in a Grilled Cheese Sammich and allows for amateur and professional chefs to compete side-by-side in the hopes of becoming a true Grilled Cheese Champion.”
In 2009 Black Rock Solar also sponsored the event, on a similar but smaller scale. 2010’s GCI doubled in size, and we stepped up our game, too:
As luck would have it, when our table was mobbed with people, we didn’t get a chance to break free and take snaps. Here is our awesome team, awaiting the 8,000 people to come through the gates, most of whom wanted beer!
Big thanks to our three beer donors, without whom the beer garden could not have thrived as it did. What goes better with a perfect grilled cheese, than some of the best brews around?!
(we assure you the only Arrogant Bastard there was the beer)
We are so grateful to have been a part of this year’s GCI. We had a blast talking alternative energy with as many people as we could. If you missed us, feel free to drop us a line at contact [at] blackrocksolar [dot] org. We’d love to chat with you.
The best news is that, as a result of the generosity of these donors and the Grilled Cheese Invitational, and you, if you were there with us at the event- we raised enough money to provide an open training workshop in Reno, NV this past weekend. At this training, almost 50 new solar installers received advanced training and are now eligible to sit for the licensure exam (there is such a thing in NV!). All because of the love of beer and cheese. We’re pretty happy with the results.
Kudos to Amani Loutfy and Rose Barnes, who sacrificed their weekends on the altar of beer and cheese for the cause of education and helping grow the solar industry!
BURNING MAN FESTIVAL
Black Rock Solar is heading to the playa. Look for us at District Everywhere, on the outer circle of Center Camp next to the Artery.
