[ShareTompkins] free renewable energy field days

[Shira Golding]

check it out!

The Small Farms Program at Cornell has announced (below) a series of   
"Farm Renewable Energy Field Days" that may be of interest to some  
list subscribers. While the participating sites are located across our  
region, a farm in Trumansburg will be open to visitors on August 5th.   
For additional information, to register or receive directions to the  
sites, please contact Violet Stone, Outreach Coordinator for the  
Cornell Small Farms Program, at 607-255-9227 or vws7 at cornell.edu.   
Apologies for cross-postings!


Announcing Farm Renewable Energy Field Days
Are you a farmer or agriculture educator interested in renewable energy?
The Small Farms Energy Work Team, a project of the Cornell Small Farms
Program, invites you to a series of on-farm renewable energy field days
located around New York in late July and early August. Come out and meet
farmers that have installed small-scale solar, wind and hydro-power.
Learn about grants, energy audits, and other energy resources  
available to
farmers.  Light refreshments will be provided.  The Farm Renewable  
Energy
Field Days are free and open to the public.  Please pre-register by
calling Violet Stone or Adrienne Masler at 607-255-9227, or send an e- 
mail
to vws7 at cornell.edu.  We will provide you with directions.

Region: Northern NY, Clinton County
Saturday, July 25, 2009: 11am-1pm. Photovoltaics at Happy Haven Dairy  
Farm
in Mooers, NY.  The 12.6-kilowatt PV (solar electric) system installed  
by
Gary and Connie Menard produces enough electricity to offset about 25
percent of their dairy farm’s annual energy needs.  Assistance from The
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and  
the
USDA helped to reduce the cost of the six arrays.  For those times when
the energy produced by the panels is greater than the needs of the farm,
the excess flows into the utility grid.  The Menard’s electric meter  
will
literally run backwards at such times, giving them full retail value for
that energy.  Co-sponsored by Franklin County Cooperative Extension and
the Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.

Region: Northern NY, Jefferson County
Thursday, July 30th, 2009. 10:00am-noon. Photovoltaics at Lilac Lawns  
Farm
in Mannsville, NY.  Dee McConnell, who maintains a 120-cow milking herd,
will give us a tour of his 9600 watt photovoltaic panels.  The panels  
were
installed by Upstate Energy Solutions based in Ithaca, NY and are
projected to produce 10% of Dee’s total electricity usage.  Dee received
an incentive from NYSERDA which covered 30% of the total cost.
Co-sponsored by Jefferson County Cooperative Extension and the Cornell
Small Farms Energy Work Team.

Region: Central New York, Schuyler County
Wednesday, August 5th. 10:00am  noon.  Solar, Wind and Water Energy at  
On
Warren Pond Farm in Trumansburg, NY.  Sam Warren has generated his own
electricity since the mid-1990s using solar panels, windmills, and a  
water
wheel.  On Warren Pond Farm is not connected to the utility grid;
batteries store energy for later use as it is created.  Sam built his  
own
system from the ground up: he welded the water wheel and installed the
windmill himself.  He “financed” the solar panels by selling his
18-wheeler when he retired from trucking.  Sam and sweetheart Jill  
Swenson
raise American bison for breeding stock and fallow deer.  Sponsored by  
the
Cornell Small Farms Energy Work Team.

Region: Southern Tier, Steuben County
Thursday, August 6th, 2009. 10:00am  noon.  Solar Powered Watering  
System
in Pulteney, NY.  Come out and see Bob and Marylou Bondi’s solar powered
watering system installed for their heritage livestock operation.   The
watering system supplies water to herds on both sides of a county  
highway
complete with holding tanks and troughs with demand triggering floats.  
The
farm also has a pond water reservoir which plumbs below the frost line  
to
a pasture hydrant using only gravity. Bob and Marylou were one of 12  
farms
to be reimbursed 50% of the cost of the solar powered pump with  
assistance
from NYSERDA through RC&D.  Bob and Marylou also received a NYS Historic
Barn Grant to help restore the A-frame and Gambrell barns on their 200
year old farm.  Co-sponsored by the Central NY RC&D and the Cornell  
Small
Farms Energy Work Team.

- via the FLX Permaculture list

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