Solar hot water systems use the sun’s energy to provide hot water for the household taps or for household heating. During this course, students will learn about solar hot water systems in general and gain hands-on experience installing solar hot water panels for an in-floor (radiant) heating system. Where: Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, Pine Ridge, SD
For more information, and to download a Payment and Registration Form, visit www.solarwarriors.org or call Lacey Gaechter at 970-484-3678 or email lacey@treeswaterpeople.org.
Thank you to everyone who joined us this past weekend for the Grand Opening of the Sacred Earth Lodge. It was great to celebrate this important moment in the Tribal Renewable Energy Program’s history with all of our friends and family.
Sacred Earth Lodge is a one-of-a kind facility located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It is a beautiful and functional space available for rent to visitors, conferences, workshops, and as an affordable meeting location in the heart of Indian Country.
We offer hostel-style lodging with shared sleeping spaces, restrooms, and a community kitchen.
For information about visiting or renting the facility please contact John Motley at 970-484-3678 or email john@treeswaterpeople.org.
Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) are a sustainable construction option, using high pressure to create bricks from local soil and clay with only a tiny amount of cement. CEB eliminates the energy and pollution produced in the creation of bricks and cement blocks. In many areas CEB homes can replace wooden structures that are adding to the depletion of the world’s forests. Earth blocks are cheaper, greener and far more durable than concrete blocks or mud bricks. The stabilized blocks don’t melt in the rain so rebuilding isn’t necessary.
Key components of this training include mixing ratios, the use of a compressed earth block machine to make bricks, and designing and constructing a naturally well-insulated and efficient earth block building.
The EarthinBlock machine is designed and manufactured in the U.S.A. by former NASA engineers. It weighs 2,000 pounds and can be towed. It can be easily moved around a building site or up the side of a mountain.
Students that visit the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center learn how to harness the power of the sun to create clean energy, gaining important job skills for the green economy.
Thank you to everyone who submitted name ideas for TWP’s new building at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC)! The new building will be called Sacred Earth Lodge. This name reflects the importance of culture, community, knowledge sharing, and Mother Earth. Stay tuned for updates as we finish the building and open it up to trainees. Was-te!
Our new solar electric array at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center is now installed! Trainees from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe recently joined local Lakota trainees for three days of in-class instruction at our Solar Electric Training, followed by a hands-on installation, learning the ins and outs of solar electric design and installation.
Jeff Tobe with Solar Energy International (SEI) joined us for a second time as a guest instructor, and we received generous equipment donations from SEI, Advanced Energy, and Bella Energy. The install is an addition to our existing solar array, and a precursor to a larger array that will be installed on our new Red Cloud Training Annex early this summer.
In addition, the training follows a historical coal mine protest on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation that we attended with our fellow trainees and friends, and we had a film crew on site for a documentary focusing on clean sources of energy on tribal lands.
Thank you to everyone who was involved in this training – what a success!
Join us for a 6-day Solar Electric Training, March 24-29, and learn how to install a grid-tied photovoltaic system! The training includes instruction in the installation of photovoltaic panels tied into the electricity grid. Classroom instruction takes place at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and students will have the opportunity to conduct a hands-on installation at our new Red Cloud Training Annex.
To attend, please complete this registration form. We are also very happy to be able to offer two scholarships for this training to Native Veterans. If you are a Native Veteran interested in attending, please complete this scholarship application form.
Trees, Water & People’s Tribal Renewable Energy Program puts the power of nature — the warmth of the sun, the power of the wind, the shelter of trees — to work for Native Americans. Working with reservation communities, TWP builds and installs supplemental solar air heaters for families in need and provides green job training to tribes around the country. These solutions are sustainable, economically beneficial, environmentally friendly, and celebrate the Native Americans’ respect for Mother Earth.
In 2012, we were able to make a big impact on the tribal lands where we work. Thanks to our generous supporters, more than 600 people are staying warm this winter with solar air heating systems. In addition, we are training more “Solar Warriors” who now have the knowledge to build and install solar heating systems within their reservation communities, helping to spread renewable energy throughout the tribal lands of the U.S.
A wonderful group of students came out for last week’s Solar Electric Training at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. We had two repeat trainees, both of whom are in the process of starting their own renewable energy business: Leo White Bear, owner of Off the Grid, and Kale Means, budding proprietor of Indigenous Renewable Energy.
Since Leo Bear left his internship with Lakota Solar Enterprises, I have missed him so much, and it was great to visit with him again and to hear that he is doing so well back home in Idaho. Leo says of this course, “It will have a big impact for my renewable energy business!”
This course represents the Tribal Renewable Energy Program’s first “Trainer in Residence” project, featuring guest instructor Jeff Tobe of Solar Energy International. Thanks to a grant from the Department of Energy, Jeff was able to spend one week at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center co-hosting this training with Henry Red Cloud. Solar Energy International’s ultimate objective was actually to propagate skilled instructors for future solar electric courses, so this was a training for the trainer (Henry Red Cloud) as well.
Thanks to Trees, Water & People’s donors, including a very generous grant from the Arntz Family Foundation, we were also able to offer this training opportunity to seven students from the Shoshone Bannock, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux, and Northern Cheyenne tribes. The 2 kilowatt photovoltaic array was donated by Namasté Solar, which allowed us to offer scholarships to all seven students. In addition, we are also happy to contribute free, clean electricity to the KILI Radio Station in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. KILI is “the Voice of the Lakota Nation,” and is listened to online by tribal people throughout the contiguous United States and Alaska.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this training a success!
Native American trainees from 4 different tribes joined us for a Solar Electric Training, hosted at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in South Dakota.
Sustainable Development, Sustainable Livelihoods 