Make a Solar Oven with Local Materials

Woodstock Museum on Sun. May 17th will host a workshop, Make a Solar Oven with Dr. Richard Komp at 10am, at 13 Bach Rd., Saugerties, NY 12477, 845 246-0600. The cost is $25 and includes lunch. Also, a power presentation. www.WoodstockMuseum.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Woodstock-Saugerties, New York (NY)


Make Your Own Solar Cooker

Want to learn solar cooking? Woodstock Museum is hosting Richard Komp, Ph.D
of the Maine Solar Energy Association Sunday May 17th at 10am for a 3-hour,
hands-on solar oven workshop followed by lunch and a PowerPoint
Presentation.

We will be building solar box cookers out of scrap material and things you
can buy at any building supply. Richard Komp has years of experience building
solar cookers and knowledge of the physics and chemistry involved. Richard
designed these cookers especially for our northern latitudes. They will
produce delicious, nutritious meals slow cooked with very little work and
just the input of sunlight as energy. You will learn physical principles of
solar cooking and see examples of his work with solar cookers in
developing countries. One late fall in Maine Richard cooked an entire
Thanksgiving Dinner for his guests using solar cookers and Native American foods.

It takes no energy to cook food. (Some foods are even exothermic. That means
that they actually give off energy through the chemical reactions of the
cooking process). All the energy used to cook food is used to get it up to
the cooking temperature and keep it there until the food is cooked. One late
fall a couple of years ago, Richard cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for
his guests using solar cookers and Native American foods.

Surely few people can match both the enthusiasm Richard Komp has brought to
solar energy as well the length of his career around solar technologies. He
has taught literally hundreds of workshops around the world and has dozens
of publications to his name, from academic papers to his current book,
"Practical Photovoltaics". He is also the editor for the Maine Solar Energy
Association's quarterly newsletter and their guide to backyard solar
entitled, "The Maine Solar Primer".

His workshops have included PV module assembly and solar
micro-drip irrigation. He has pioneered PV as a "cottage industry" in
Nicaragua, Mali, India and Haiti, making use of cells that are rejected by
manufacturers to do low-tech assembly of PV panels. Groups
in these countries are assembling dozens of panels for a total of
over 10 kilowatts per year.

Dr. Komp has had a deep career in the academic and research worlds. He
received his Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from Wayne State University in
Michigan and later was an associate professor at Kentucky University. He
also has been an adjunct or visiting professor at several other
universities, including currently the national engineering university (UNI
-- Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería) in Managua, Nicaragua where he spends
2-3 months per year. Earlier in his career, he conducted extensive research
at Xerox's Materials Research Laboratory, resulting in about a dozen patents
on such things as nanoparticle photoreceptors.

That said, Komp is far more than just an "academic". He is just as "hands
on" as he is cerebral and he lives in an off-the-grid passive, solar house
that he built himself far "down east" in Jonesport, Maine. The house is
decked out with many of the technologies he has taught in workshops,
utilizing photovoltaics, solar thermal hot water (via his "hybrid" system),
rain water catchments and passive solar. It allows him to lead a simple,
inexpensive, and fruitful life.

Dr. Komp's long-term advisory capacity with Woodstock Museum speaks to his
commitment to share his knowledge and skills with younger generations
to make a difference in the world. His past solar workshops at the museum are
archived and available for research.

The cost of this workshop includes lunch and is only $25. Woodstock Museum is serving
veggie or wild salmon croquettes, salad, drinks and ice-cream cake. RSVP
845 246-0600 or hello@woodstockmuseum.org For more information on our
events, go to http://www.woodstockmuseum.org

Featured Product

U.S. BATTERY RENEWABLE ENERGY SERIES DEEP CYCLE BATTERIES

U.S. BATTERY RENEWABLE ENERGY SERIES DEEP CYCLE BATTERIES

Our RE Series batteries are designed to provide the highest peak capacity, longest cycle life, and greatest reliability for use in industrial or residential renewable energy applications. Renewable Energy Series batteries utilize the company's exclusive XC2â„¢ formulation and Diamond Plate Technology® to create the industry's most efficient battery plates, delivering greater watt-hours per liter and watt-hours per kilogram than any other flooded lead-acid battery in the market. Our Deep Cycle batteries are engineered to work with solar panels as well as other renewable energy applications.