Sustainable Energies Research Institute Art & Sylvia Krenzel We are grateful to the Home Power crew for their quiet urging to discuss "the dream which is driving our actions". In talking with others, we have found that the knowledge and information to successfully live a self-sustaining lifestyle is available, but widely scattered. We are dreaming of establishing a school for learning self-sufficiency technology and self-sustaining lifestyles. Our goal is to start a school where we can integrate nature, technology and humanities in a group setting. Weekend workshops and conferences are planned, as well as longer term courses. They will be involved in a wide range of topics such as: energy efficient architectural designs, renewable energy technologies, innovative food production, low impact agricultural methods, cottage industry management, humanities and ecology. These subjects will be taught by qualified in-resident staff as well as visiting instructors and experts. All faculty, administrators and students will work together in the daily tasks necessary for the school's operation. In this way, everyone will experience the broad spectrum of skills necessary in a self-sustaining environment. The over-riding concept will be the integration of theory and actual hands-on experience. No Ivory Towers here. The school will be powered by renewable energy- it will practice what it preaches. Students will have real hands on experience and will work with instructors to design and build solutions for the personal situations. We are now searching for a peaceful location with a wide range of natural resources so we can demonstrate a living mix of nature and technology. Current plans envision a central conference facility providing a meeting room for lectures with smaller rooms for a more "one on one" learning environment. Other buildings planned are a community kitchen/dining facility, recreation areas, shops and office space. Staff and guest housing will be remotely dispersed but located within easy walking distance of the main buildings. These houses will provide working examples of alternative building technologies including domes, bermed buildings, underground structures, super insulated buildings, etcÉ The plans also include space for pasture, fish ponds, organic gardens, orchards, and innovative concepts in small scale food production such as greenhouses, hotbeds, and aquaculture. Food cropping should be of sufficient quality to meet the needs of in-resident staff and also those who are attending conferences, workshops and classes. Excess food production will be sold in local markets as an additional source of income for the school. The school will be operated as an educational organization deriving its main income from student tuition, donations and rental of the conference facilities to groups. Some income could also be expected from surplus food production and other in-residence cottage industries. We thank the crew at Home Power for their continued support of the school. We hope that this article will begin to locate people and resources to carry the concept of the Sustainable Energies Research Institute into a reality. If you have an interest in participating in any way, whether it be by attending, teaching, or contributing finances, effort or time, or whatever else you feel may help the project, please contact us. Now it is time for your input. Please use the form on page 29 for easy access. Art & Sylvia Krenzel POB 117 Greenview, CA 96037 tele: 916-468-2349 The driving force behind this project is Art Krenzel, currently working as a Registered Chemical Engineer. He has established an insulation manufacturing company which recycled material to conserve home energy. As an extension to this company, he also started a National Training School for advanced energy saving techniques. Starting from the area of thermal efficiency, he now researches alternative energy production and resource conservation. We, at Home Power, are supporting this project because we belive that is necessary, relevant and entirely beneficial. We have confidence that Art and Sylvia can accomplish a difficult project of this magnititude. RP