Talks and Workshops

Energy Basics. Btu’s to quads in Boulder, the US, and the globe. A million Btu’s is roughly the energy equivalent of a person year of labor, and its price is a few dollars. Yet the US with less than 5% of the population uses >25% of the globe’s energy, 100 billion person years of labor annually. As poor countries advance, avoiding America’s wasteful ways will require elegant engineering and social solutions.

Following flow Quantifying use usually reveals cost effective opportunities for energy efficiency. Savings follows waste. Illustrations from the transportation and building sectors.

Buildings Adjusting to climate, building tight, well-insulated structures that are coupled to the earth while controlling for indoor air quality works in all seasons. Examples with a range of building material (locally available, from wood to Rastra) and tactics (pole barns, slab-on-grades) that are cheap, easy to build, comfortable, long-lasting, and energy efficient.

Daylighting Using the sun’s lumens via elegant and simple devices to achieve attractive and functional spaces. Illustration with several passive and active daylighting concepts in various stages of development. One active daylighting device can heat water with the infrared portion of the energy it collects while distributing excellent natural light to where it’s needed or power PV cells during off times. A variation heats an oven.

Active solar Simple systems that recycle plastic.

The seminar will move upwards toward principles and downward toward practices, actively seeking participants’ insights.