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Randy Dunton
- Phoenix, AZ
- United States
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Well, the reaction to this house bill was so strong that within a day - the pressure on our government so intense, that it was very quickly killed ! Apparently the sponsors of this bill had never seen such a reaction. This is good in many ways, it s…
Hi Randy,
would you please get a letter together that we can all cut and paste onto emails and send to the reps? You can upload the word document here.
Thank you for bringing this to attention. Nayeema
please write to Jan Brewer as well,, let's get this under control
http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp
read the news and weep:http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arizona-chokes-on-solar-policy-trumps-progresshttp://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/02/22/daily19.htmlThese are the members of the Rules committee; please contact them ASAP…
Hi Randy,
I am planning to put out an agenda for the next meeting this week. I have been thinking that it would be a great idea to start of these meetings with a short presentation or movie clip ~20-30 minutes. I am hoping that someone will voluntee…
http://www.arcosanti.org/theory/main.html
It may be a good idea at some point to send a delegation from this group to Arocsanti to learn of the theories and best known methods for living in our climate and share this with others.As many of you may…
Found it:
I would like to take Ingrid's lead and have a potluck or a series of potlucks, and a movie, open to the first 8-12 people who RSVP from my address book.
It would be ideal to show the transition movie. (We aired it at our Alternative Energy…
Hi Nayeema,
try this link, it works for me: http://sustainablekohala.ning.com/
Could not open the site page.
I agree no one can expect to survive without community support, with each person utilizing his or her skill to fill in gaps for goods and services. If communities localized to the greatest extent possible, in conjunctio…
My sister Tracey in Mendocino lives a life, and has so for some time, that most of us would like; chickens, very large garden with fruits and vegetables , wood heating, solar power, fishing in the sea, lots of canning, etc. It is not enough to survi…
I hope you are not simmering because of my comment... I did use the point of "bricks in toilets" and changing light bulbs in another thread... If so, sorry for the misunderstanding. I think we should all do both, the point I was making was - what ne…
Nayeema, thank you so much for your efforts. To see the diverse group of folks at your presentation was heartening. The next step is to bring that group togeather again, for whatever reason. Are you still willing to set the place and time? Brainstor…
Najeema, I posted an invitation to members of the group to partner with me in a potluck or a series of potlucks in my living room here in Tempe. Being the non-technical person that I am, I posted it somewhere else on the site. I really need some coa…
Thanks for the presentation, Nayeema, and your recap of the discussion and recommendations for moving forward. Personally, my next step is to learn more about the Transition Town concept and what's already been accomplished.
Looking forward to our…
Well, we certainly had a heated discussion today after the Transition Town presentation. We had a diverse group of people, bursting to share their observations and stories, and sadly, too little time. It was a great first meeting though and I was am…
Profile Information
- What are you interested in learning about?
- renewable energy, solar in particular
- What skills and resources do you bring to this group?
- engineer, inventor, creator, experience
My background is engineering in the field of electronics (computers) - now in the process of reinventing myself to become an engineer in renewable energy, focusing on solar photo voltaic design and installations. Back to school !
I am motivated by the looming inflection point we face in getting off fossil fuels. For more background see: Cubic Mile of Oil (CMO) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil
and : http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/
as well as: http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded
tell me what you think....
I am motivated by the looming inflection point we face in getting off fossil fuels. For more background see: Cubic Mile of Oil (CMO) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil
and : http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/
as well as: http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded
tell me what you think....
Randy Dunton's Blog
need you all to contact your government officials now, oppose HB2701 that will kill renewable energy in AZ
read the news and weep:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arizona-chokes-on-solar-policy-trumps-progress
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/02/22/daily19.html
These ar… Continue
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arizona-chokes-on-solar-policy-trumps-progress
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2010/02/22/daily19.html
These ar… Continue
Posted on February 24, 2010 at 10:43pm — 3 Comments
good video on the end of suburbia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uvzcY2Xug
good background on the history and reasons for suburban sprawl, it will take a lot to end this trend...
good background on the history and reasons for suburban sprawl, it will take a lot to end this trend...
Posted on September 3, 2009 at 5:29pm — 3 Comments
Comment Wall (7 comments)
- At 5:47am on August 24, 2009,
Nayeema Eusuf said…
- Hi Randy,
I have lived in AZ for 4.5 years but have not been able to visit Arcosanti! I think his ideas are fascinating, although until you pointed it out, I had not made the connection with my ‘sustainable community’ blog. There are other experimental communities as well such as Yellow Springs, OH and Willits, CA. I am interested in seeing that sustainability model take root in communities and enclaves in big city suburban areas.
Given the choice I would love to move to a small town but who will rehabilitate the suburbs? We have so much built up area that is uninhabitable but for mechanical heating/cooling, automobile and pumped water that we should have city mandates to retrofit these neighborhoods, but maybe more people would be willing to put their hard earned money into retrofitting if it were to count towards mortgage. Mortgage is enough of a burden on devalued properties in current economy, so who would be willing to invest additional labor and dollars, especially since for many people losing job = losing home? It would be natural for people to ask themselves, should I green my home or put away cash for myself. If a home or business owners takes stewardship of his or her built environment, I believe it should count towards mortgage. Modern society has devalued the work of caretakers, examples - farmers, mothers and teachers.
As you have lived a more self-sufficient life, it must be hard for you to live the office to grocery to bank life. Many people are however, carving out ‘homesteads’ of sorts. I am sure you can too with time and effort. I think with so much renewed interest in homesteading among urbanites, we are seeing the beginnings of a new way of living. Urban homesteading is here to stay I think. Hopefully city ordinances will catch up and in some cases, people may have to step up and question obsolete ordinances. Check out this magazine: http://www.hobbyfarms.com/urban-farm/urban-farm.aspx. I am planning to get a copy and see how it is.
- At 11:24pm on August 18, 2009,
- Randy, thanks for your interest - much appreciated.
Further unsustainable home construction needs to be stopped and sustainable and self-sufficient ‘neighborhoods’ need to be promoted. After all, you can build ‘green’ buildings with recycled materials and the works, but if the people living in them need to commute 15 miles every day to work, relies on cheap grocery/gas and there is no fostering of communal interdependence, it is still unsustainable in the long run. Just as LEED has started looking at buildings holistically, something has to look at communities holistically. And I feel convinced that something is transition initiative. All areas of our lives need to ‘transition’ to a less energy dependent and more community dependent version. I think our culture needs to evolve to a version where people and things – food, building materials, clothes, necessities - have to travel less. Local dependence is necessary to reduce oil dependence.
I have been thinking of exploring the idea of agri-based, self-sufficient communities as urban infill in areas of Phoenix as a possible response to peak oil, to increase the resilience of Phoenix as a whole. I think that the success of such a community would depend greatly on reducing cost for utilities – water, sanitation, heating, cooling etc, maximizing land use and being walkable as well as within walking distance of established neighborhoods. I am also thinking that labor-intensive construction process, building incrementally, communal agriculture etc would promote ‘community building’ at the same time – people sharing labor to save money. However, due to time constraints, I am not able to delve into it right now.
I passed LEED version 2.2 a few days before it became obsolete and replaced by version 3, during last week of June. So now I am a LEED AP without specialty, as yet.
- At 4:11pm on August 15, 2009,
- Given your interest in the coming oil crisis - thought you might like to check out:
http://www.transitionus.org/
- At 4:07pm on August 15, 2009,
- Hi Randy,
I have not yet seen the movie, the oil crash, but the trailer was very good. Is it actually available for viewing online? Speaking of movies, here is a great 20 minute or so documentary:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/ The Story of Stuff, great message about consumption.
Architecture is indeed a fascinating field but mired in too much paperwork now. Those who are not involved in ‘design’, become documentation specialists.
To answer your question, I think solar panel integration is the future along with designing buildings that are responsive to the site and climate. In my mind the best construction I have seen is one that uses local materials, craftsmanship that is taught from master to apprentice and comes about in an organic way in response to the needs of a particular site and community.
I have written about in a blog:
http://azhomegrownsolutions.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sustainable-community
I looked at the product data sheets on the Solarday products - very interesting. I had only seen the brochures that they hand out on expos before. It’s a little intimidating not knowing how it works.
Nice to talk to you – I hope you will be interested in the groups – alt architecture and transition town. And I hope you will be interested in teaching some classes on solar panel integration in existing buildings.
Regards, Nayeema
- At 9:37pm on August 14, 2009,
- Hi Randy,
I just checked out the trailer for the movie ‘The Oil Crash’. I have got to see it. So many great documentaries have come out in recent years. I hope you will be attending some of our movie screenings and maybe organizing some too. Welcome to azhs!
- At 8:08pm on August 14, 2009,
Admin said… - Hi Randy and Welcome - I agree with Anne! I'm working on getting some solar classes so stay tuned!
Jen
- At 7:28pm on August 14, 2009,
Anne Ashton Goldfeld said… - Welcome, Randy! We definitely need more engineer - inventor - creator people like yourself to help fulfill the "discovering solutions" part of our mission. Thanks for joining and hope you enjoy this community.
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