Thank You

Thank you to the many businesses and volunteers who helped organize Energy Night and Energy Day: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Underhill Country Store, Price Chopper, Cathy McNamara, Rob Sleamaker, Dan Clayton, Sally Duval. Rebecca Schwarz installed her Tower of Power and John Koier, Maura Duval, Courtney Rose, Matt Thompson, and John Treybal created projects for Energy Night. Bob Murphy and George Hoguet gave valuable presentations, while Efficiency Vermont, Firefly Solar Store, Union Bank and Spafford & Sons exhibited during Energy Day. Thank you all for making it fun and interesting.

See you at Button-Up Day, 10:00-12 noon October 18 at Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.

-- The Underhill Energy Committee: Tom Moore, Irene Linde, Roger Frey, Peter Duval, Shelley Jurkiewicz, Jerry Adams, Bob Murphy.

UPDATED 14 October 2008: The site of Button-Up Day has been changed to Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.

Hold the Carbon, Please

Here is the song that George Hoguet sang at the end of his Underhill Energy Day presentation.

Hold the Carbon, Please …………..George Hoguet 12/2006.

(to the tune of The Weight by J.R.Robertson. Album: Music from Big Pink
© 1968, 1970 Dwarf Music

G Bm C G

CO2 is rising, the temperature's beginning to climb;

Bm C G

the oceans soon will follow, wreaking havoc on all mankind.

Bm C G

Polar bears and coral are already feeling the heat,

Bm C G

And 200 species a day are dying at my feet.

(chorus)

G D C G D C

Take a load off the Planet, Take a load off please,

G D C G D C G C

Take a load off the Planet, and get below -2.3!

Fanny, can you tell me how we pumped up this CO2?
We're at 20 tons per person in this land of Red, White & Blue
Call the cops, pull all the stops, get your Congressman on the line,
We need to get below 2.3 to help save all of mankind.
(chorus)

Never understood this tune the first time it came around.

Some guys going to Nazareth, but it had a really cool sound.

Now it's tons of carbon, and we're toking those fossil fuels.

We've got 6 billion ship mates and we're acting like fossil fools.

(chorus)

I'm doing my best to get myself down below 2.3;

Tons of CO2 that is from all my living needs.

These boots are made for walking, not driving a big SUV,

I'll shut the light, set the thermostat right, gonna get myself carbon free.

(chorus)

Take a load off the Planet, Take a load off please,
Take a load off the Planet, and get below (3x)- 2.3!

Recent Press

On the front page of the August 21, 2008 Mountain Gazette, Ted Tedford wrote Underhill to hold energy fair

In the Community section of the September 11, 2008 Burlington Free Press, Joel Banner Baird wrote about how Underhill Energizes with Weekend Festival

More BYO Projects

Energy Night is fast approaching, but there is still plenty of opportunity to get involved. While many fun things are scheduled, the event will be vastly improved with addition of your project -- whatever it is: music, sculpture, research poster, constructed machine, poem, etc.

Any group, or individual can participate. No registration. No fees. No age limits... No one will be turned away! Just show up and show off your project.

Earlier, we gave some Bring Your Own Project suggestions.

Here are some more ideas:

Sculpt some sculpture

Paint a painting

Make a solar pizza box oven (s'mores, meringue cookies)

Make a dutch oven sized solar oven (stews & soups)

Make a solar marshmallow roaster

Build a parabolic trough cooker (hot dogs, marshmallows)

Construct a solar ice-maker

Make a sundial
http://www.sundials.co.uk/projects.htm

Explain how a digital sundial works

Write a poem

Sing a song

Elbow Rocket Stove Number 1

While strolling through the yard at Recycle North's Building Materials Center, I spied some double wall stove pipe. Three pieces were $5; I didn't haggle. This is nice stuff: a heat resistant stainless steel inner liner, suspended inside a galvanized outer wall. There was a good sized pile, with plenty of elbows -- the critical component of a rocket stove.

For the first firing, I found a piece of stainless sheet in a scrap bucket and hammered a fold to make it fit in the pipe as a fuel shelf. Three concrete blocks arranged on end provided a prop for the elbow and a support for the cooking pot, a brick underneath raised the pipe close to the bottom of the pot.

The second firing added a short section of regular stove pipe to lengthen the vertical flue. A few extra bricks were needed to support the cooking pot at the right height. We roasted hot dogs on skewers, made s'mores, pan fried hamburgers and popped popcorn using perhaps 2 kilograms of wood, finely split poplar and some apple branches and twigs. Once the fire was started (using dry leaves and a couple of used paper towels), the fire burned hot and clean. The fire was easy to douse with water.

This photograph shows the onion shaped refractory fireplace that we have used in the past for the same sort of meal. We would have used three or four times as much fuel and it would have taken careful tending to keep the fire going.

This version does a reasonable job of satisfying the Ten Stove Design Principles. Its shortcomings can be resolved: lack of insulationg around the combustion chamber and flue, and uncontrolled flow around the cook pot. I am going to keep this prototype. It is portable, the construction is visible, and it is a significant improvement over the fireplace.
In the next generation based on this double wall elbow, I would replace the flue extension with an integrated pot skirt and make three metal pot supports that would slip onto the liner pipe. The air gap would be filled with perlite or vermiculite, and the whole thing would sit on a bike rim layed horizontally and cobbed together to ballast the stove. Sections of the bike rim would be exposed as carrying handles.

Design Principles for Wood Burning Cook Stoves is a nice reference. Read all about rocket stoves at the Aprovecho Research Center's Publications & Reports. Two videos illustrate the original Aprovecho Rocket Stove and its predecessor, the VITA Stove.

Kids enjoy chasing popcorn popping in an open pan. Note the unpopped kernels and drops of hot oil that are flying out of the pan. We'll take care to use less cooking oil next time.

Cycle the Tower of Power

Rebecca Schwarz's Cycle the Tower of Power sculpture will be on display at Energy Night, which starts at 5:30, 12 September at the Underhill Town Hall.

Cycle the Tower of Power harness the power of three cyclist to energize elements of the sculpture. Come ready to ride, and bring your bike!

Meeting Minutes, Underhill Energy Committee 26 Aug 2008

DRAFT
Underhill Energy Committee

Meeting Minutes ,7:00 p.m. August 26, 2008

Members Present: Tom Moore, Irene Linde, Jerry Adams(7:45), Peter Duval.

Guest: Roger Frei

7:25 p.m.

Call to Order

Energy Day/Night

Members gave updates on their activities in preparation up to the event.

Tom is organizing the Energy Fair. An announcement was placed in the
St. Thomas church bulletin.

Jerry is organizing the recruitment of volunteers and identification
of persons who will need help this winter. He has a booth plan, with
cards to fill in for contacts, which go in sap buckets.

Irene is working on supplies and food. Compostable

Peter is working on the Energy Night activities and a bookmark/program
to promote the events. Kid films, potluck, energy projects, more
films. The more people who show up, the more food, projects, and
organizing help will be available. The bookmark will be distributed
to Underhill schools and Rawson Library.

We discussed the budget, and arrived at $250 for the whole event:

$70 Energy Night (DVDs)

$30 Bookmarks

$100 Energy Day Food

$40 Speakers Gift

$10 Contingency

Recruitment

Roger Frei discussed his interest in being a member of the Energy
Committee.

Motion: Tom Nominated Roger Frei to the open position on the
committee. Irene seconded. Passed unanimously.

Button-Up Vermont

Button-up Vermont is asking for local organizers for their do-it-
yourself efficiency/weatherization project training program. Tom will
contact Button-up to begin arranging for the training date..

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be 7:00 p.m. September 9, at the Town Hall
Kitchen.

8:35 p.m.

Motion: Gerry moved to adjourn. Seconded by Irene. Motion passed
unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Peter Duval

Read and Approved as submitted/amended

___________________________________________________________

Tom Moore, Chair Date