Ecovillage Solar Power Grid Project

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dancing rabbit ecovillage logo

A friend of mine who lives at Dancing Rabbit recently let me know that the ecovillage is looking to install over 25kW of solar panels and set up a micro-grid there. Pretty cool. But they need one thing. They need loans to help fund the project. If you’re interested in providing a loan, here’s more information (via Dancing Rabbit resident Tony Sirna):

BEDR Power Co-op – Request for Loans

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (DR) is one of the leaders in the sustainable communities movement and has a 15-year track record of pushing the envelope on what sustainable living means.  DR is now poised for growth in terms of population, increasing our sustainability, and in having a greater impact on the world.

BEDR (Better Energy for Dancing Rabbit) hopes to be a key element in supporting that growth. BEDR is an LLC set up as a consumer cooperative for providing renewable energy to the population of Dancing Rabbit. BEDR will operate a net-zero, grid-tied renewable energy system as laid out by the Dancing Rabbit Land Trust’s covenants, which includes exporting enough net power to offset the embodied energy of our production systems and the effects of our grid usage. Through BEDR, DR will go beyond ‘net-zero’ and will be a net exporter of renewable energy.

BEDR’s long-term goal is to demonstrate a fully renewable energy grid on the neighborhood or village scale, with solar, wind, and biomass energy systems. DR has already shown that people can happily live on 100% renewable energy via off-grid household-sized systems, and BEDR wants to scale that up to show how neighborhoods, towns, and regions can power themselves fully with renewable energy.

BEDR is looking for $150,000 in small or medium-sized loans from people supportive of Dancing Rabbit, renewable energy, and sustainability in general. Your investment will help Dancing Rabbit not just export power on the grid, but export ideas, skills, and hope for a sustainable culture.

Terms for loans are negotiable but we are looking for loans with rates commensurate with a socially responsible endeavor such as this. Loans will be needed by October 1st, 2011.

Contact Tony Sirna at bedr@dancingrabbit.org or 660-883-5881

Cool project, Hope some of you can help them out.

If you can’t help, consider sharing this with friends and family who might be interested.

Note: the interns that were involved in an environmental engineering internship we previously announced on here helped with the research that Dancing Rabbit plans to use to eventually disconnect from the wider grid and just run on their own internal grid (with solar, wind, and biomass co-generation for load balancing). If replicated widely, should help limit global warming.

 


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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