LED's Light up the Ecocenter

Friends: I spent a good part of the day with a Chris de Monterey, the chief architect behind the modern, but ancient, Camera Obscura. Chris and I selected a package of LED lights to illuminate the EcoCenter.

We have made a decision, rather than go with standard compact flourescents, to outfit the entire building with super efficient lED lights. This will help increase electrical efficiency at the center so as to not overload our stand alone solar array.

LED lighting has been around since the 1960s, but is just now beginning to appear in the residential market for space lighting. The LED is based on the semiconductor diode. When a diode is forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. Basically, LEDs are just tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical circuit. But unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, they don't have a filament that will burn out, and they don't get especially hot. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor.

LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durability and reliability. LEDs have several advantages over conventional incandescent lamps. For one thing, they don't have a filament that will burn out, so they last much longer. Additionally, their small plastic bulb makes them a lot more durable. They also fit more easily into modern electronic circuits.

But the main advantage is efficiency. In conventional incandescent bulbs, the light-production process involves generating a lot of heat (the filament must be warmed). This is completely wasted energy, unless you're using the lamp as a heater, because a huge portion of the available electricity isn't going toward producing visible light. LEDs generate very little heat, relatively speaking. A much higher percentage of the electrical power is going directly to generating light, which cuts down on the electricity demands considerably.

EcoCenter Dripfield Fence is up! Thank you Rebuilding Together!

We had another great day today with Rebuilding Together. Rebuilding Together brought ten amazing volunteers down today to finish working on our fence. We finished up the wiring of our dripfield fence and it looks wonderful! I think we are modeling an amazing water reclamation site at the EcoCenter. The fence will act as a barrier for dogs and other little critters wandering around. We are getting ready to cue up our waste treatment system in less than two months. Thank you Orlanda and Joan for everything you have done for us!

EcoCenter Bids out Vegetative Roof!

Hi all:

I am pleased to announce a new opportunity! As many of you know we recieved funding fromm the California Regional Quality Control Board via the EPA for installation of our Low Impact Development [LID] systems which include our: Vegetative Roof, our Constructed Wetlands Treatment System, our Permeable Patheways, landscaping with natives, signage, and our dripfield. We have now issued a request for proposal [RFP] for the work!

I am so thankful that we have this resource because since the project has been so delayed over the years, it was incumbent on our team to find the financial resources which would allow us to implement all of our goals and to at last realize our vision of our Living Roof! Ironically, last year at this time we were knee deep in a deep state budget freeze and didn't see any end in sight. This year we are actually creating more green jobs than ever imagined with this new resource!

This opportunity will afford our community the ability to fully realize our dream of having all of the integrated systems in place for our Spring Opening and to create some real green jobs!

I look foreward to hearing back from various contractors and interested parties over the course of the next three weeks. All of the information for the RFP is located on the front page of our website: www.lejyouth.org.

Stay in touch!

Laurie

Bay Nature Covers the EcoCenter

Great New Year Article on the Ecocenter!

Bay Nature Covers the EcoCenter

Great New Year Article on the Ecocenter!

Happy Holidays from the EcoCenter Team

Friends, I have been thinking about the importance of this week with regard to the EcoCenter's Journey. Last year on this very day, we were told by our project manager from the State Coastal Conservancy that our funds via the state were being frozen due to California's fiscal crisis. If you all will recall, the state comptroller issued a freeze for all grantees due to the fact that the legislature had not yet passed a budget and the state coffers were totally empty of cash. This was a very traumatic time for the Ecocenter team for without the critical support of the state's funds we would not have an ecocenter building. We recall also, the plight of so many projects throughout the State of California who have not resumed work due to California's fiscal crisis.

It's amazing how far we have come in the last year since our funds were unfrozen in August.

Since the freeze ended we were able to finish up our framing, put on our roof, and solar panels, install our plumbing and trimwork and the building looks gorgeous. We have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season--friends who stuck with us through the freeze, our funders who committed to support us dispite the horror of losing our critical funding source, Moira, Amy, Joan, and Sam from the Coastal Conservancy who offered so much emotional support to us during that time, and most important, also all the contractors and vendors and fellow activists who have shown a steadfast committment to the vision of the EcoCenter/Living Classroom despite all the obstacles we have faced.

Thank you all and our team looks forward to this new year which we hope will be full of abundance and inspiration for us, and for all of our friends working on innovative green projects throughout the state.

We have much to be grateful for this year.

Laurie

Experiencing and Off-Grid Environment

Friends:
I just spent a week connecting with some friends that are off-gridders in Mendocino and was struck by the power of their life experience living without tie-in to municipal utilities and how our project in San Francisco captures so many themes that are so relevant to our modern world: living with a limited water budget, staying attuned to our electrical needs, being aware of where our waste water goes. I spent over a week living with my friends and I was struck by the fact that so much of our time together involved discussions about basic life systems: potable water, electrical energy, and wastewater. My friends are so attune to their personal needs and what waste is being generated, and how to create more efficient systems.

I spent Thanksgiving in the city last night and watched my urban friends turn on hot water and let the faucet run with abandon, and left heaters on in basement rooms where no one resided. I was struck with how so many my urban friends have no idea what their own electrical homebudget is, yet they are paying large utility bills every month!

Here in the city, so many of us take for granted that we have complete access to these vital systems. How many of us could survive on a water budget of 10 gallons per day or an electrical budget of 2 kw a day?

I am very excited to start working with EcoCenter Team at Literacy for Environmental Justice, to craft educational literature around the systems we are bringing to our community in San Francisco that will help bridge the educational and experiential gap between these two worlds!