this rocks!

I know! I'm itching to dig up some roots and give it a whirl.

Lookin good! Unfortunately its giving me more crazy ideas in which my husband will scratch his head in bewilderment.( Although I can get away with such things, I am the builder- he's the couch potato )

We should make that our motto: "Promoting crazy ideas for over five years."

One of the reasons I still get the paper is for great articles to share, sometimes with my sisters, in Maine and on Cape Cod, to prove that life in Appalachia can be inspiring:) Well, Jack Mason , from Meadowview, VA, a retired Emory and Henry prof. has a wonderful article on solar possibilities. Go to wecaresolar.org for info on the solar suitcase, which allows doctors to provide emergency obstetric care. Mason refers to GreenBuildingAdvisor.com and explains that his own home has three applications: a passive solar system that helps with space heating, solar thermal that heats water, and solar electric--a PV system of 6 kilowatts producing more electricity than they use, so for the rest of their life all their elec. is free...What I'm interested in is a small sun-powered fan for ventilation (from FarmTek for $300.) He has made solar ovens from cardboard, cooking fish, meats, veggies--even cakes. A friend designed a solar system to keep his cattle's drinking water unfrozen: a 15 watt module, a battery and wire connected to a couple of light bulbs. Small apops can be built to power saws and drills in the field. You need 2 or 3 modules rated at about 200 watts ea., deep cycle batteries and an inverter to change DC to AC. This replaces gas-and diesel-pwered generators...mason sounds like a good expert in the field!