Alternative Transportation

What do the renewable energy students do for transportation? Farmington is one of the sunniest spots in the country, but it also gets cold here. Below freezing is common for a bunch of months, and last summer we had more than 60 days in a row higher than 90F. Still, these greenies are pretty stubborn and don't back down to the weather too quickly.

When Dave's car got crashed, he started riding his bike about 15 miles round trip, and it was taking time away from studying (so he claims). He bought himself an electric wheel hub, which powers him along at about 20 mph. He took a meter home and figured out it costs $8 a month of electricity to recharge the battery. 

Daniel picked up this sweet riding, all electric scooter. It's got a 30 mile range, which is plenty for a couple of days around town for him. He recharges it in the yard at school off of solar panels that we train on. Truly zero emissions transportation, powered by the sun.

Not a bad couple of options if you don't mind bundling up. 

Final in the Snow

Action photos of the PV Installation final exam in December. We were all glad to be done, and headed to Clancy's Irish Sushi bar for a pint.

Photos Copyright ThatDamnCrowlie, as in "ThatDamnCrowlie brought a bottle of Patron tequila to my house on Saturday and I felt like crap on Sunday."

Monument Valley Navajo Park

New tent = No Leaks! 

When I pulled up to the gate to enter Monument Valley Navajo Park, I asked the Navajo Ranger if there was a campground open. He says, "You're a brave one, aren'tcha?"

It makes me a little nervous when some Navajo, that looks like he could take on pretty much anyone on the Rez, much less the 4 local states, says to me "you're a brave one". What am I getting into?
I asked if the temperature was supposed to drop a ton, why "brave".

"Oh, it will get cold, but up there and exposed to the weather, it's the wind that gets ya, better tighten those jacklines", he says.

New tent held up through some fierce winds. Temps right around freezing, warm and toasty through the night. Rode the loop around the "Valley of the Gods" the next day. Although there was still a wall of wind, how could I pass it up? 

Spring Semester is now in session.

School is back in session. This semester is the end of my year at San Juan College. I am already putting a resume together and writing up cover letter samples. I knew it would fly by once I got here, and it has. 

Last summer and last semester had preliminary and background work that applied to the future. Instead of hanging solar panels and making power from the sun, I found myself using an oscilloscope and looking at how small components affect circuits. I know this work will pay off, but I always want to just jump in and get wet.

This semester is all relevant. This is the Renewable Energy Gravy Train coursework.

Coursework for the semester:
Carl is teaching PV Theory and System Design. We’ll be doing a lot of calculating systems sizes and designing systems for different situations. Lot’s of spreadsheets which will keep my brain occupied. 

Tom is teaching Part 2 of the PV Installation class. The whole semester is hands on building systems and generating power from the sun. Also we’ll be going through the National Electric code (NEC) for PV systems in depth. 

Bill is teaching AC and DC motors for renewable energy. Taking them apart, putting them back together. It is very hands on and high voltage. This will be good to know since wind power being the cheapest way to create large scale electricity, even competing against the massive government subsidies for coal. Wind power uses motors and generators more than Solar PV electricity does.

Old Dr. Methusala is back to teach the NEC for electricians. Zzzzzz. Still dry, but it is what it is and it needs to be learned. On the bright side he pronounces “wire” as “waaaarrrrr” and the word is used frequently, and then every time he says “waaarrrr” the Navajo power plant guys in the class all mimic it. “Waaarrrr”, “waaarrrr”, “waaarrrr”, “waaarrrr” crop up in each corner. Since it is an evening class everyone (or possibly just me) is hungry, crabby, grouchy, tired, and generally punchy anyhow, it passes the time. Try it out. Also string it together with other words, like the Apple product “Firewire” properly pronounced “FaaarrrrrWaaarrrrrr”. That's good, ain't it?

Last is my elective. This one is a toss up. I’ve only had one class so this is a first impression. Katrina, a sort of urban farmer hippie chick, teaches about sustainable lifestyles. Day 1 we talked about different topics and then we made vegetable smoothies. I’m not sure it is going to be an academic juggernaut, but it should be entertaining. (And keep us regular if that's an issue for anyone.)

Perfect schedule? Maybe not perfect. Is the program good? Absolutely. I’m positively doing the right thing here. I’m excited to get into the real coursework for the semester and then find myself a new job for the summer! We've got a whole world to save from us!

Typical New Yorker

End of year break allowed me to travel back east to Boston, and from there I squeezed in visits to NYC, NJ, and Washington DC. I arrived to piles of heavy wet snow and was totally shocked we were allowed to land. I am guessing all the bailout airports were full of planes by that late in the day and they figured we may as well try Boston. 

The snow throughout the trip certainly cut down on visiting people and I missed seeing several folks I'd love to have seen, but it gave me a good excuse to hunker down at my folks' place and hang out with the family for some extra quality time. Plus I got to see all of my nieces and my nephew!

I dragged cycling shoes and cold weather gear all the way out there, but never had a day when Roger was free to ride and that the continually falling snow left our side roads clear enough to ride. The day I left he got out for a ride in which his water bottles froze in under an hour. Not fair to miss out! 

My favorite anecdote of the trip was on the train to NYC. A woman sits down next to me on the fully booked train. Eventually she manages to engage me in conversation even though I had the iPod on and was listening to stories from the Moth. I answer that I am living out west in the 4 corners area, and she says, "Don't you have trouble talking to those people? Every time I go out there I get the same story". 

They tell me "Oh a typical New Yorker. You think you know everything." 

And she tells them right back, "Yes I do know everything, because we have everything, and everything we have is better!"