Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "solar"

Mayor helps dedicate largest private solar project in Sacramento

2011-04-13T01:01:12Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson joined public utility officials and private business developers at Depot Park Tuesday for a ceremony to dedicate the largest private solar project in the Sacramento region.

The 3-megawatt project, located in the Depot Park business complex on Florin-Perkins Road, includes an array of 12,600 solar panels and is designed to meet nearly 40 percent of the annual power needs for the 3 million-square-foot facility, according to information released by the mayor’s office.

“I believe this area has the opportunity to be the greenest region in the country and a hub for investment in clean technology,” Johnson said in his prepared statement. “Today’s dedication demonstrates that good environmental policy can be good economic policy.”

Johnson said the project – which is the result of collaboration by Depot Park, the city of Sacramento, East West Bank, SPG Solar and Chint Astronergy – has historic significance as a showcase for the reuse of a military base with a Brownfield site for renewable energy generation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines a Brownfield site as land where any redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

The new solar project is an example of finding creative solutions to challenging issues and using green energy to remedy a previously contaminated Brownfield site, said Dick Fischer, president of U.S. National Leasing, owner and manager of Depot Park.

“It demonstrates how the alignment of policy creates real deals,” Johnson said. “We have a state enterprise zone and an aggressive renewable portfolio by SMUD, and we have our city sustainable goals all coming together to leverage dollars.”

The solar panel array at Depot Park is the largest green sector project within the city limits and it provides an opportunity to satisfy a growing need to diversify the local economy, Johnson told those attending the dedication.

Johnson was also joined at the dedication ceremony by Renee Taylor, president of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) board.

“SMUD is very committed to these kinds of projects,” Taylor said. “It’s an example of how, if we all come together to see this vision of a more sustainable future for Sacramento, that working together really is the way to do it.”

In 2007, SMUD began implementing California Senate Bill 1 (SB1), which requires utilities to set 10-year installation and budget goals proportional to the utility’s share of statewide load, which in SMUD’s case amounts to 125 megawatts (MW) of new capacity by the end of 2016.

“This one 3-megawatt project at Depot Park puts us at about 20 megawatts,” Taylor said. “We still have quite a ways to go to reach (our) goal, and we are pursuing it aggressively.”

Joel Ayala, director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, also took part in Tuesday’s dedication ceremony. Ayala noted that solar projects of this kind in California provide an efficient and affordable source of energy as well as jobs for Californians.

“This is a win for California,” Ayala said. “The investment that Chint Astronergy has made in California is a great achievement, and the hope is that we can develop further opportunities both here and across the state.”

Julia Burrows, managing partner at Valley Vision, a non-partisan, nonprofit organization associated with the Depot Park solar project, said Chint Astronergy, the manufacturer of the new solar panels at Depot Park, is looking at potential plant locations and company headquarters in the United States.

“We want them here,” Burrows said.

Bringing such a manufacturing plant to this location would also bring 150 to 200 jobs, Burrows said, boosting the local economy and supporting the main objectives of the mayor’s Greenwise Initiative.

The initiative, launched by mayor Johnson last May, is an effort to make Sacramento the greenest region in the country and a hub for green technology through collaborative efforts with experts and community leaders in a variety of policy areas such as waste and recycling, urban design and green building, and green and clean technology.

Johnson concluded his dedication comments with a direct invitation to Cunhui Nan, chairman of Chint Astronergy, to bring his manufacturing plant to Sacramento and Depot Park.

“Sacramento is open for business,” Johnson said. “We have the space, we have the people and we’re ready to go.”

HIGHLIGHTS FROM TEDX SACRAMENTO April 16 2010 at Hinde Auditorium, 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819.

2010-04-22T06:06:17Z

April 16 marked the arrival of TEDx in Sacramento, bringing a “TED-like experience” to our area.

What is TED? TED stands for “Technology, Education, Design.” It is a small nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Started in 1984, its purpose has spread to include an annual U.S. conference in Long Beach as well as a TEDGlobal conference in the United Kingdom, a TEDTalks online video site, an annual TED Prize, a nationwide local program called TEDx and more.

Per TEDx Sacramento, “The TEDx Conference provided a license and general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.”

Brandon Weber, TEDx Sacramento curator, said the local team wanted to create a special event to “lay the foundation for a strong TEDx presence in Sacramento…to contribute to the dialogue of ideas and encourage creativity, innovation and action in our beloved city.”

The event was held at the Hinde Auditorium at California State University, Sacramento, to a packed house of several hundred registrants, and the program was recorded for subsequent online viewing.

Weber started the program by saying TEDsters are in a class of their own, that TED conferences are a mix of things and that we would be watching live video from other TEDx conferences in addition to live multimedia presentations.

The first presentation was a video called “Derek Sivers: Weird, or just different?” The focus of the video was that sometimes we have to go to the other side of the world to realize assumptions that we didn’t realize we had. Whatever brilliant ideas you have – the opposite may also be true. An example was shown of how addresses are determined in the United States versus in Japan. U.S. blocks don’t have names, streets have names. In Japan, blocks have names and the streets are the unnamed places between the blocks. Street numbers are based on when the homes were built.

Next was a live presentation titled “David Mogavero: An American Frontier.” Mogavero is senior principal at Mogavero Notestine Associates, with special expertise in the areas of ecological building, environmental planning, infill development, urban design and energy-efficient design.

Mogavero said the suburbs are a unique American institution, generating vast amounts of appreciation and scorn. Suburbs are the most inefficient form of human habitation ever done on earth, and an important place for focusing on environmental change in America, he said.
He started his practice by doing passively heated homes for people moving back to the land, mostly hippies. He realized that if he was going to be an ecoarchitect he had to work in the fabric of the community. He has done infill work in Sacramento and throughout Northern California.

The quantity of issues relative to urban sprawl are immense. People are moving back to urban America in large quantities, mostly in central cities. This has both limitations and opportunities for capturing infill growth.

In Sacramento, we build on average about 10,000 homes per year. Sacramento can only handle 19,000 new units – about two years of growth. The opportunity is tens of thousand of acres of underutilized areas such as parking lots, vacant housing and shopping center spaces, which can be eliminated for hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments.

When you have to design in these kinds of situations, you take the perspective of “do no harm.” You’re trying to instill more density but have an industrial complex that causes you to be creative. As an example, there is a commercial district in Yuba City – an opportunity to put people in a place with a services available now.

For Mogavero this is like jazz, which emerged from a convergence of cultures. Architectural development design is fascinating and fun for him for reasons like this: With a 10- or 15-acre site in the suburbs, you can integrate food into the project through agriculture. A community can be involved in the growing of food. There is also an opportunity for technology, which is more challenging in the city. Holistic integrated systems flowing back and forth continuously are possible in such areas. This is one of the most exciting venues in American building culture.

Next shown was a video titled “David Gallo: Underwater Astonishments.” Diving into the deep sea is a dark black world. We’ve only explored about 3 percent of the oceans. We don’t know much about this planet at all.

We are learning lots from the shallow water, which is full of predators that can change color & texture to match surroundings, but the deeper water still leaves much to be explored.

The Gallo Video proved a good precursor to Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond, who received the Best Area Jazz Musician award for 2008 and 2009 from “Sacramento News and Review.” Hammond gave a spirited performance that integrated sound system issues that would affect the evening’s musical interludes.

The music was followed by another video, this one titled “Kirk Citron: And Now, the Real News.” The top story of this year was the economy. What kind of stories might make a difference for the future?

Some include the invasion of the nanobees, China’s rising, food shortage, the age of discovery, an ant mega-colony taking over the world or self-directed robots making discoveries. With or without us, life will go on.

For Citron, the top story was that water was found on the moon. In the long run, some stories will be more important than others.

Next was a live presentation titled “Ron Vrilakas: The Great Green City.” Vrilakas is an architect who likes buildings. He is working on what he loves, which is trying to build a great green city. He comes from West Sacramento, a place that has failed to solve how housing and commercial roads should come together. He spent eight or nine years avoiding going to Sacramento. He learned some things along the way about what makes cities exciting and green. We have been out of sync building cities over the past number of years, he said.

Once there was a way – we knew how to build the Great Green City. We used to build communities commonly, but technology got us away from earlier ambition and we turned in another direction. Things were cut off from each other by highways. Simple basic community-oriented buildings were changed. Places to gather and take pride in your city became places like retail with parking lots.

In 50 or 60 years, we’ve lost the ability to build things like McClatchy High School. We couldn’t do now what was done then on six sheets. He showed a picture of a bicyclist who will hopefully survive the Freeport Bakery parking lot.

An urban memory – he tries to find ways to reintroduce these things into our environment. Streets need to be for people. Emptyness in a block is a bad thing. Menacing facades are an embarrassment.

Preserving the past is something Vrialas said he believes strongly in. We need to cherish historic landmarks, adapt for activity, create the unexpected (alleys in Sacramento can become a network of interest within our grid) and resist demolition. Underutilized places need to be identified. Single-use is not good – everything must be a mixed-use environment. Empty spaces need to be change to active places.

History forward – Vrialas said he believes we find the identity of our city in the past. Getting to know oneself is how you make something. San Francisco has its identity, as do Seattle, Berkeley, Boston, Portland and Paris – all of the best of an urban life put together. In Sacramento we have a real history to build upon.

He looks to buildings for stories. We’ve been building cities for thousands of years, but we’ve only been building in a suburban manner for past 60 years, and we’ve been getting it wrong. We don’t have to look for a technological fix. We can have the fix in the way we organize ourselves – an urban design ethic that is important for human civilization.

Next came a video titled “Dean Ornish: Your Genes Are Not Your Fate.” The video offered encouragement for a healthy lifestyle. When you eat better, exercise and love more, the benefits can be measured. Topics covered things to do to grow your blood cells and things to make it worse. You age less quickly when you change your lifestyle. Arteries become notably less clogged, you can stop breast cancer, change prostate growth and even change sexual potency.

You can change genes, turn on the good genes and turn off the disease-promoting genes. We all have genetic profiles, but our genes are not our fate. We can also change how our genes are expressed.

It was now time for another musical performance, this one from Autumn Sky, who said, “My name is Autumn Sky. Really.” She and her guitar ,which she has named Samuel Taylor, performed and sang whimsically.

Next, it was back to the green theme, with a video titled “Catherine Mohr: Building Green.” Mohr explores energy usage depending upon what she uses to wipe up a spill. Sometimes the things you least expect have the greatest effect.

Mohr wanted to know how to achieve a green lifestyle. The average house has 300 megawatts of embodied energy. Some ideas she explored were deconstruction of the house, putting in a rainwater catchment, alternative roofing and framing, if putting aluminum windows will double the energy use and others.

Following that, it was time for another live presentation, “Chris Schuring Recycles Carbon.” Schuring's company, Ternion Bio Industries Inc., grows algae in a controlled environment to reduce carbon.

Schuring asked, “Why do you do what you do? Why do we want to build better cities, to go green?” He said he believes it’s because we inherently want to do better in our lives, be smart and leave a better legacy. There is a sense of camaraderie, of community. It’s me and you in the solutions we come up with. He did it because he thought reducing greenhouse gases and carbon footprints would be great.
Lots of people don’t want to do these things. People won’t care about what you do until you care about why. If we come together as humans, we can bring communities together to effect change.

Schuring has a personal goal to help 100 entrepreneurs start businesses to effect change in the next 18 months.

Next came a very cute video titled “Rives: Mixed Emoticons.” Rives – star of the Bravo special, "Ironic Iconic America," told a typographical fairy tale that was short and bittersweet.

After this short bit of comic relief came another live presentation titled “Robyn Waxman: F.A.R.M.” Waxman is an award-winning designer, activist, farmer, educator and founding member of graphic communication program at Sacramento City College.

Waxman looked at design’s role in the last 10 years. Moving more into letting other people design for themselves as the role of the designer seems to be the direction the industry is headed. She produced a 56-page tabloid on how to make your own farm. Millenial farmers have built Farm Davis on eighth and K streets. They have donated more than 100 pounds of food, or half of their production. The other half they ate. The farm runs on a gift economy without a budget. The space is on a privately owned front yard.

A similar Sacramento farm is coming May 2010 at 13th and C streets in Alkali Flats.

Up next was another video, titled, “Julian Treasure: 4 Ways Sound Affects Us.” Treasure said he wants to transform our relationship with sound, which has become largely unconscious. There are four ways sound affects us:

Physiological – an affect on breathing, heart rate and brainwaves.

Psychological – musical has the greatest effect. Music and bird sounds are reassuring.

Cognitive – you have to choose what to listen to. We have limited bandwith to decide which sound to listen to. People are one third as productive in open rooms as private rooms.

Behaviorally – move away from unpleasant sounds and toward pleasant sounds.

Most retail sound is unpleasant, with retailers losing 30 percent of their business because the sound is so dreadful. Treasure's company has developed a SoundFlow to design soundscapes. Music is powerful. Every brand is making sounds right now. Several well-known brand jingles were used as examples. There are four golden rules for commercial sound:

Make it congruent

Make it appropriate

Make it valuable

Test it, and test it again

We can achieve sound living through good use of sound

Another video followed, titled, “Alan Siegl: Simplifying Legal Jargon.” It takes a blizzard of paperwork to get benefits or a business loan. Siegl has been simplifying things for 35 years. He didn’t see why we couldn’t have a simple one-page consumer credit agreement, so he created one.

He seeks to define terms in plain English. Plain English is about changing the content. An agreement for IBM was received very favorably by businesses. IRS letters are pretty unintelligible, and he proposed changes to the IRS.

We must make clarity, transparency and empathy national priorities. We should not do business with those using unintelligible provisions.

It was then time for another musical interlude, this time from Sacramento musician Julie Ann Bee, titled “Sea of Bees.” Bee’s first full-length album is about to be released by Davis-based Crossbill Records. She performed two songs.

The next live presentation was titled “Scott and Julie Brusaw: Solar Roadways”, and was presented by Scott, an electrical engineer with more than 20 years of experience who hails from northern Idaho. They have spent years working on the concept of a solar-powered roadway system.

The Brusaws spent a lot of time together 30 years ago. His favorite toy then was a slotcar. He thought, “What if we made real roads electric?”

They discussed how there is no easy solution to global warning and other issues, including that 65,000 children die each day because they can’t get clean drinking water.

Couldn’t you make electric roads out of solar panels? Could they make solar panels you can drive on?

They said they believe so. There are some problems, but they aren’t insurmountable. We can’t let snow build on it, so he put heating element on the surface. He put LEDs on there to light it up, a microprocessor so all panels can talk to each other even with cars traveling overhead. The system can even warn drivers of animals on the road.

Storm water spills right into a nearby body of water. What if we could route that to a filtration system and send it for reuse? We can put power cables on the shoulder instead of in the air. We can grind up recyclables to use.

Brusaw started a website, and Treehugger.com picked it up. He received an e-mail from Booz Allen Hamilton – one of the biggest consulting firms in the nation. They now have four sample panels in their lab.

Brusaw has received a research grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and has built a 12-foot-by-12-foot prototype. He said panels could be used in playgrounds and parking lots. See more at solarroadways.com.

Up next was another live presentation, “David Garibaldi: Paints with Passion and Purpose.” Garabaldi throws paint around and sweats profusely. He started about six and a half years ago. It was graffiti, and it was illegal. During his junior year of high school, he was introduced to animation. By senior year he wasn’t able to graduate on time. He was creating art out of the environments he was in.
Garabaldi called his show “Rhythm and Hue.” He created pop icon paintings on blank black canvas. Santana popped up behind him at halftime at a Golden State Warriors game.

In March 2005, he asked if his art could do more than entertain. Can it benefit and inspire others? He has been able to help raise $500,000 for charities and organizations through spending $200 and painting on stage. He changed why he was doing it.

Each of us has passion and purpose. We can be creative, charitable, profitable and grow algae. He said we all need to keep going to put bigger purpose behind our passion.

Finally, a video titled “Derek Sivers: How to start a movement,” was shown. The video made its point showing a group of young adults in action. A leader needs the guts to stand out and show everyone else how to follow. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. Then comes a second follower. New followers emulate the other followers, not the leader. As more people join in, it’s less risky to join in. Eventually, all who don’t join in would be subject to ridicule.

Nurture your first few followers, he advised. Leadership is over-glorified. It was really the first follower who transformed the first nut into a leader. Have the courage to follow, and show others how to follow. TED is the perfect place to do that.

All in all, this was an extremely varied, educational and entertaining multimedia extravaganza. It was also announced that there are plans for another event in November, so stay tuned.

More information about TED can be found at ted.com, and more about TEDx Sacramento can be found at tedxsacramento.com.

TEDx Sacramento launches to sold-out crowd

2010-04-17T18:45:19Z

Who is Ted and why is he so popular? The nearly 200 people who attended Sacramento’s inaugural TEDx conference last night at Hinde Auditorium at Sac State discovered that “what is TED?” is the better question. TED is a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds--Technology, Entertainment, and Design--and now its scope has become ever broader. Since the launch of the TEDx program only six months ago, thousands of individuals have gathered to enjoy independently organized TEDx events. Last night, Sacramento made local history with its first TEDx conference.

TEDx Sacramento curator Brandon Weber, co-owner of The Urban Hive, is a long-time TED fanatic. Immediately upon learning about the new TEDx program, he applied for the Sacramento license from his cell phone! Last night’s event was organized by a creative team comprised of local entrepreneurs, artists, political activists, students, social media mavens, engineers and designers. The team also had support from Sacramento State, Capital Public Radio, SACE (Sacramento Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs), The Urban Hive and Whole Foods Market.

Five innovators presented on sustainability themed topics such as turning a toxic strip of land into an urban vegetable garden, greening the city of Sacramento and creating a solar roadway. Artist David Garibaldi shared how he turned his passion for painting into a greater purpose and local musicians--Sea of Bees, Ross Hammond and Autumn Sky--entertained with their unique sounds ranging from improvisational jazz to folk rock. All of the presenters except for Scott Brusaw, who hails from Idaho, were from the Sacramento region. TEDTalk videos featuring a variety of “ideas worth spreading” were sprinkled in-between the live presentations. 18 different ideas were shared in just under 2 ½ hours! All of the presentations were recorded and will be available for viewing at the TEDx YouTube channel soon. At the end of the event, attendees cheered upon hearing that the next TEDx Sacramento event is planned for November 2010.

List of Topics & Speakers*
An American Frontier David Mogavero, Mogavero Notestine Associates
The Great Green City Ron Vrilakas, Vrilakas Architects
Recycling Carbon Chris Schuring, Ternion Bio Industries
FARM (Future Action Reclamation Mob) Robyn Waxman, FARM
Solar Roadways Scott Brusaw, Solar Roadways Project
Paint with Passion + Purpose David Garibaldi, Garibaldi Arts

*does not include video presentations

You can stay up-to-date on TEDx Sacramento events by following them on twitter, fanning their Facebook page or joining their mailing list.

Former Refugee Family Achieves the Dream of American Home Ownership

2009-08-29T14:27:44Z

Saturday, August 29, at 10 a.m. Sacramento Habitat for Humanity and Sacramento community members will gather to dedicate the Thor family home at 2954 Connie Drive in Sacramento. The Thor family has put in 500 hours of sweat equity alongside community volunteers and other Habitat families. The Thor family home was made possible by a $75,000 sponsorship from the California State Employees Charitable Campaign. This simple, decent home includes environmentally friendly, money saving solar panels thanks to a grant from PG&E.

Habitat for Humanity serves families earning 30 percent – 50 percent of the Sacramento County area median income. According to the 2000 US Census Bureau, in Sacramento County there are more than 30,000 families in this income range who are also living in overcrowded or sub-standard conditions. The typical Habitat partner family’s annual income ranges from $22,000 – $36,000 for a family of four. Since 1985, Sacramento Habitat for Humanity has changed lives by providing families with decent, affordable housing in a safe environment to grow and thrive.

“Life is better here for our children, they have education, a home and freedom,” said Julie Thor, homeowner. Peter Thor works for Alamo Rental Car and his wife Julie works at Marshall Adult School assisting other refugees in finding jobs.

The close knit Thor family consists of two parents, six sons, one daughter and an Aunt. This family of 10 currently lives in an overcrowded 2 bedroom, 1 bath home in Oak Park. Peter and Julie Thor were both born in Laos to farming families and both of their fathers were recruited by the CIA to fight on behalf of the United States during the Vietnam War. When the war ended their parents were in fear of retaliation by the reigning government, and moved into refugee camps in Thailand. Peter and Julie were children when they arrived in the camps and lived there for over 13 years. They met in the refugee camp, got married and had their first three children there before immigrating to the United States 12 years ago.

“The Thor home brings us close to the 200th home completed for our Sacramento affiliate,” said Ken Cross, CEO of Sacramento Habitat for Humanity. Although we are proud of this accomplishment, it is not about how many homes we build, our mission is about keeping hope alive and fulfilling the dream of homeownership for low income families.”

About Sacramento Habitat for Humanity
Established in 1985, Sacramento Habitat for Humanity (SHfH) is a 501c3 non profit local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. SHfH’s mission is to build decent affordable homes in partnership with families in need, supported locally by volunteers, faith based-organizations, individual donors and corporations for the betterment of our community.

Solar cookers' Shine On at Sierra 2

2009-08-28T04:24:25Z

Solar Cookers International (SCI) held its annual Shine On event Aug. 21 at the Sierra 2 community center in Curtis Park. The event included demonstrations of solar cooking, complimentary solar-cooked food and two informative presentations hosted by notable Sacramentans. About 250 people of all ages were in attendance.

SCI volunteer Del Tura demonstrated the potential of the solar box cooker. Overlooking a large lamp positioned near a cooker, Tura enthusiastically described the history and effectiveness of the device, which has been been used since the 1970s by U.S. hobbyists. "Earlier today we had the cooker in the parking lot; it reached 250 degrees. Under the lamp, it only gets to about 200."

Inside the cooker were 15 chocolate chip cookies, baking under the simulated sunlight. "It takes about 30 to 45 minutes for the cookies to bake, but there's very high moisture."

The first presentation of the evening, hosted by former Sacramento Bee food editor, author and Capitol Public Radio reporter Eline Corn, contextualized the solar cooking movement within America's broader need to claim ownership of the cooking process. "Somehow, in our society, putting the food in your mouth has jumped over the preparation." Food preparation is ancient and precious, she said. "We have given that power [of preparation] to someone we don't even know."

With the solar cooker, it is possible to cook many different foods - chicken, fish, vegetables, pastries - easily and sustainably.

Although the solar box cooker is used by many enthusiasts in the United States, the device represents only the first generation of solar-baking technology. Thanks to the work of SCI, newer, more portable and less expensive solar cookers are being distributed and used in many sun-rich developing nations, such as Kenya and the Philippines.

In his presentation, microbiologist and humanitarian Dr. Bob Metcalf described the vast potential of solar cooking in the developing world, where water contamination and fuel shortages are major obstacles to healthy living. Traditionally in these communities, contaminated water was boiled; however, boiling water requires resources that are often unavailable in the world's most impoverished areas.

Solar cookers and the WAPI (water pasteurization indicator) provide these distraught communities with a potential solution to their purification and dietary needs. The reusable WAPI, a small partially wax-filled plastic tube, is placed in the middle of a black pot, which is located in the center of a solar cooker. "When the wax in the tube moves, you've pasteurized water at 65°C or 149°F," Metcalf explained.

The WAPI is a useful visual aid, enabling villagers to see the purification of water in a solar cooker, which cannot normally reach the temperatures necessary to boil water. Through this method, it is possible to pasteurize five liters of water in two and a half hours with a solar cooker; done twice, this process provides a typical family with a multiple-day water supply.

Water purification can have significant and immediate effects. Metcalf showed a photograph of a smiling African mother helped by his aid team. The team had given her a water purification kit and $25 solar cooker. "Thank you," she said, "because my children used to get diarrhea all the time, and now they don't."

The Sacramento-based Solar Cookers International is attempting to raise $50,000 before the end of September. Donated funds will be used to support SCI's worldwide aid programs.

Solar Cookers International.

Sacramento's Solar Cookers International shine

2009-08-26T04:02:40Z

Sacramento's Solar Cookers International (SCI), a group that helps communities harness the power of the sun to cook food and pasteurize water, will be holding their annual "Shine On" event Wednesday evening. The event will educate SCI's supporters on their successes of the last year and highlight future projects, said the event's coordinator Rene Hamlin.

About 250 people are expected to fill the Sierra 2 Center from 5 to 9 p.m. to listen to speeches by SCI co-founder Dr. Bob Metcalf and Capitol Public Radio food reporter and solar cook Sherry Cole. Those who attend will be able to view cooking demonstrations, eat solar-cooked food and even participate in a silent auction featuring art by Mary Frank, a long-time solar cooker and inscape (abstract) artist.

SCI began in 1987 when Metcalf, a microbiology professor, got together with Beverly Blum and solar cookers Sherry Cole and Barbara Kerr. They put together manuals to enable others to build solar cookers, and shortly afterward, they began manufacturing the cookers themselves.

There are three types of solar cookers that have unique functions, Hamlin said: a box cooker, a parabolic cooker and a panel cooker. A box cooker can bake, a parabolic cooker can fry, and a panel cooker can cook a stew, but most people use all three like a crock pot heater, she added.

"When we're educating and introducing [people] to solar cooking, we talk about it as if it's a crock pot," Hamlin explained. "You can do slow-cooked foods or one-pot meals really easily in the solar cooker."

A benefit of the panel cooker is its portability. Though most other solar cookers use heavier material like glass, wood, and plastic, it uses lightweight materials like cardboard and reflective aluminum and can be folded to the size of a vinyl record.

"In the United States, it's an alternative to using electricity or gas so you can save money," Hamlin said. "Outside the United States in fuel-scarce communities, it's an alternative to cooking over an open fire."

SCI also has an office in Nairobi, Kenya, where they have been working with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation on educating officials on how to test for bacteria like E. coli. They are also working with U.N. officials on building a mobile microbiology lab to be able to test water supplies.

Available for sampling at Shine On will be solar roasted vegetables, vegetarian hot dogs, cakes, cookies and pies. The event is free and the Sierra 2 Center is located at 2791 24th St.

"Sacramento is really nice for solar cooking and has about 200 solar cooking days a year," Hamiln explained. "You need to make sure they are cloudless days, [and] not rainy or too windy."

For more information visit SCI's website, solarcooking.org and The Solar Cooking Archive Wiki.

Photographs credit Solar Cookers International.