Last week Richard Fox, TWP’s National Director, and TWP’s Lakota partner, Henry Red Cloud, visited the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming to demonstrate how our solar furnaces heat homes, using clean energy from the sun. During interactive workshops, solar heating systems were installed for two local households. Manufactured by Henry’s Pine Ridge company, Lakota Solar Enterprises, these systems lower a family’s heating bills by 20-30%, by providing heat for pennies per day, whenever the sun is shining.
The Wind River Reservation is the home of two separate tribes – the Northern Arapahoe and the Eastern Shoshone. Approximately 30 members of the tribes’ Housing Authorities attended Richard and Henry’s presentation about residential-scale renewable energy and its potential to bring green jobs to Native American communities. Tribal members then helped to install solar heating systems at a family home on each reservation.
Both Wind River tribes are exploring ways to incorporate renewable energy into their housing and job-training policies and plans. During their visit, Richard and Henry met with Patrick Goggles and Joanne Seesequasis, Executive Directors of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Housing Authority, and John Wadda, Director of the Eastern Shoshone’s Employment and Training Program, to discuss how TWP can further this process. If tribal leaders decide to implement solar heating on a wide scale, tribal members can learn to assemble and install the heating systems at our Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation. These newly trained Solar Technicians could then be employed to economically install a large number of systems for Wind River families.
For more information please visit http://www.treeswaterpeople.org/tribal/tribal_intro.htm.
Interested in becoming involved with solar energy programs on tribal lands? Become a member of our Facebook Cause “Solar Energy for Lakota Families.”
Sustainable Development, Sustainable Livelihoods 