Black Rock Solar is back from the playa with a familiar glow and lots to report.  It was a heck of a year, with a record number of solar powered art installations and a bunch of events at our “Everywhere” home base.  Highlights!

Solar VIP Tour

Black Rock Solar hosted a Solar VIP Tour to showcase the wide-ranging renewable energy and efficiency work being done by people on the playa.  Fresh mint juleps were poured over ice as we boarded the Surly Bird and launched the 1^st Annual tour.

The Surly Bird hits the streets of Black Rock City

Michelle Ochoa, Marnee Benson, and Ryan Jackson (aka Nascar) conducting the playa-wide, playafied solar tour

The first stop was Nectar Village, a camp with over 300 people and two ground-mounted solar arrays provided by Snow Koan Solar.  It’s the largest solar installation on the playa, at 31 kW, and produces enough electricity to power all of the camp’s operations.  Will Power led the group through camp, which is on a grid, much like the grid you’re probably on at home.  The array provides central power, distributed via circuits, cables, and cords to individual tents, trailers, and common areas.

The panels at Nectar Village are high enough off the ground to provide shade for tents and common areas

Over 500 people camp together with not a single generator at the Alternative Energy Zone (AEZ).  AEZ is one of the pioneering, radically self-sufficient, fossil fuel minimizing groups on the playa; they’ve been around since 2001.  And their website is FULL of helpful information.  Unlike Snow Koan however, each set of campers at AEZ provides their own energy solution, whether it’s solar, wind, or surviving without electricity altogether.

Former runway model and current AEZ Mayor Jolly Roger talks about alternative philosophies, the sound of quiet, and Aluminet

Appreciation was given en route to myriad art installations including the Circle of 22 Regional Effigies surrounding the Man (all powered by Snow Koan Solar!) and Peter Hudson’s Charon, the zoetrope that blew your mind.  The solar panels at Charon provided nighttime power to the rowing skeletons’ eerie lights.

"Charon" by Peter Hudson (photo by Ryan Doyle)

After brief stops at Camposanto and Mountain Mayhem, the group went to the tiny but absolutely inspiring Camp Conduit.  Here, Bill and Marta use one small solar panel and a host of innovative sustainability measures to live and lounge at Burning Man.  From a custom-built shade structure with crow’s nest above the custom-built kitchen to a fabricated cooler that keeps ice frozen for 3-4 days, Camp Conduit has raised the bar and given new meaning to the term radical self-reliance.  And they give away hats!

Black Rock Solar Board member Dan Porras with Bill and Marta from Camp Conduit

Solar Summit

On Tuesday afternoon Black Rock Solar hosted a Solar Summit where people from all over the country came together to meet and exchange ideas about renewable energy, sustainability, and climate change.  (Truthfully, they may have been lured by the mint juleps and grilled cheese.)

Peeps at the Solar Summit included Black Rock Solar Crew Supervisor Dave Lasky, Black Rock City Sign Shop Goddess Mel Waters, blogger and journalist Jessica Reeder, and Jen Forbes

Burners Without Borders’ Director Carmen Mauk (center) stopped by to talk about her organization’s international projects (pictured with Michelle Ochoa and Marnee Benson)

Everywhere Lane was brimming with live music by Thee Hobo Gobbelins and hot grilled cheese sandwiches served by the fabulous and semi-solar-powered Dust City Diner.

Thee Hobo Gobbelins perform at Everywhere

The Dust City Diner serves them fresh.

Real fresh. Earl Stirling on the line.

Black Rock Solar's Rosalie Barnes and DPW Playa Restoration Rock Star D.A.

Black Rock Solar’s Executive Director Paddy McCully and Board President David Shearer addressed the crowd from the stage of the solar-powered GOBImobile, the multi-media showpiece of the 501(c)3 GOBI Transformation Project based in Chicago.  Tad Snyder conceived this project and brought the mobile venue to the desert for the first time in 2011.  (The GOBI sound system is, um, well, extremely good.)

Paddy McCully and David Shearer on the solar-powered GOBI Mobile

As Paddy and David mentioned, Black Rock Solar has installed 1.4 megawatts of solar since 2007, the year we donated our first two arrays to the school system in Gerlach and Pershing General Hospital.  That translates to over $7 million worth of free solar to schools, hospitals, tribes, and other non-profit organizations across Nevada.

David Shearer and Dan Porras with a BRS supporter

Collaboration and volunteerism are one of the great pillars of Burning Man, and these two events benefitted greatly from our network of wonderful helpers.  Big thanks especially to Diana Dorman, Mandy Stephen, Kelly Morris, and Karol Kmeto.

Happy and beautiful friends Diana Dorman & Mandy Stephen

Marnee, Carmen, Kelly, and Karol making sure no mint juleps go unattended

Everywhere

“EVERYWHERE” is the playa home base for Black Rock Solar, Black Rock Arts Foundation, Burners Without Borders, and the Burning Man Regional Network.  Located on the Esplanade at 6:15, this space brings together people, ideas, and information from the Burning Man affiliate groups and what they are doing the other 51 weeks of the year.

Everywhere photo by James Addison

The Everywhere crew during tear-down

During Burning Man, each group staffs the space during the day and hosts events to bring people together, answer questions, and catch up on new projects.  This year we were joined by the Burning Man Project, the new non-profit organization created by Black Rock City, LLC. to uphold and manifest the values described in the Ten Principles of Burning Man.

Everywhere photo by James Addison

Electricity for Everywhere 2011 was provided by a mobile solar array from SunPods Energy Solutions in San Jose.  Dan Jaeger and Ben Gumm had never been to Burning Man, but they love what we’re doing and drove out to the playa to drop a fully mobile, self-ballasted, 3 kW array across the Esplanade from Everywhere.  We’ve never seen anything like it- it took about five minutes to install, and then the guys were ready for their first tour of the city.

SunPod solar array adorned by art "Is Land" by Sarah Cockings and "Beat Wave" by Jurgen Meyer H. Architects

Over and Out

It was great connecting with so many supporters on the playa this year.  Thank you for sharing your brilliant ideas and accomplishments with us and with each other.  We look forward to seeing you in 2012!

by Marnee Benson

On March 17, 2011, the 28.5 kW Children’s Cabinet array was officially commissioned under sunny skies in Reno, Nevada. Black Rock Solar is extremely proud of this installation, as it will help the non-profit Children’s Cabinet save money on their utility bills and put it toward important programs and services for kids and parents in northern Nevada.

When employee Marty Elquist heard the news this morning, she said: “Going green on St. Paddy’s Day! Nicely done. Another reason I am proud to work for the Children’s Cabinet!”

Black Rock Solar would like to congratulate the Children’s Cabinet on their new array and thank the employees- Jeff Andrews in particular- for their collaboration on this special project.

Posted by Marnee Benson

Each year, Black Rock Solar returns to our source of our inspiration: Black Rock City. We eagerly look forward to our stay on the playa as an opportunity to connect with our supporters, inspire others, and educate about our mission and our projects.

August 30-September 5
District Everywhere
6:30 and Esplanade
Black Rock City, NV

Once again, the outreach groups of Burning Man (Burners Without Borders, The Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar and The Regional Network) have teamed up to create a unified presence on the playa: District Everywhere!

District Everywhere is housed under one large pavilion (which might look familiar… it’s one of the pavilions that surrounded the Man in 2007 and 2008!) This year, our space will take on the appearance of a large world map, with continents cut out of wood, set up at table height. With the assistance of our World Domination Team, guests will create miniature sculptural representations or flags to represent their off-playa projects and endeavors.

District Everywhere is located at the intersection of the Center Camp outer ring, 6:30, and the Esplanade.

Events
Together, the outreach groups will also host interactive activities, art projects, events and gatherings, all geared toward kindling ideas and generating momentum for off-playa, after-Burning Man outreach efforts. Join us for daily BurnSide Chats, hosted lectures, salons and discussions about art, community and culture, from 1:00-4:00pm, Monday through Saturday.

MONDAY:
Join all of the outreach groups for an opening reception, ‘Party Everywhere,’ from 4:30-6:30pm.

TUESDAY:
Join Black Rock Solar for an afternoon of playa-inspired solar sessions from 1:00-4:00pm.

• 1-2pm Dr. Ge-Off, Mayor of the Alternative Energy Zone, will talk about how easy it is to solarize your camp and get off the grid at Black Rock City.
• 2-3pm  Meet the Black Rock Solar Board of Directors, Construction Crew, and Staff. Learn about our upcoming projects and celebrate the installation of our millionth watt of solar power.
• 3-4pm Calamity Charles,Stanford scientist andBRC airport
  volunteer, will lead a solar shower discussion and group brainstorm about optimizing gray water evaporation on playa.

Special Interactive Piece: A SHOW-N-TELL with EMBER’s Gray-B-Gon wind-powered evapotron

Hey, do you have a solar power art car or some other piece of renewable energy innovation? Bring it over to 6:30 and Esplanade during our Tuesday event!  Most of our crew is already on the playa and the rest of us are heading out Friday–so we’ll see you there!

We’ve got some remarkable news to share–thanks to the support we received at our annual Solarstice II event ( special thanks to John Keating for a generous donation to cover an unexpected cost overrun!) , we’ve just been able to complete installation of a 30kW solar array gifted to the North Lyon County Fire Department in Fernley, NV.  Each year, this project will save their fire department over $6,000 in energy bills.

Solar array being installed in Fernley last month

And that, friends, means that as of today Black Rock Solar has installed 1,006,267 watts AC of solar power–otherwise known as 1 megawatt.  The money saved over the next 25 years from these projects tops $6,000,000, along with thousands of tons of carbon offset. It’s the largest amount of solar power installed by a non-profit nationwide.

This milestone shows that it is possible to make the world a better place, even taking a million tiny steps, and we want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for helping us get here.  When we began almost three years ago, we had the brash goal of “taking the town of Gerlach (NV) off the grid” — figuring if we’re going to do something about climate change, we had to start somewhere, and that was as good a place as any.  The people at the power company told us politely we were nuts, but worked with us anyway.

Well, as of now, the amount of solar we’ve installed offsets the entire energy use of the town of Gerlach, so in a round about way we did get there after all.

Here are some recent images we had taken of some of our projects this year:

Food Bank of Northern Nevada: 150kW

Pyramid Lake High School: 135kW

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts: 20kW

This month also marks another milestone of a different kind for Black Rock Solar.  As you may remember, we got our start following the “Green Man” theme at Burning Man 2007. Tom Price worked as the Environmental Manager for that event and was part of the rockstar team that went on to create Black Rock Solar.  After almost three years at the helm, Tom will be passing the reins over this fall to a new Executive Director, as he goes on to other opportunities in the renewable energy industry. If you think someone would be interested in his job ( which, btw, is pretty awesome), please point them at the job description posted here.