Solar Energy

ENP Summer Update 2023

Posted on by Stevo

The 2023 outreach programming season is in full swing! Since the beginning of the year, we have presented several wildlife, nature, energy, and EV programs all over WNC and worked on improving our classroom. Below are some highlights:

Tips: Increase magnification to 125- 150 for the best experience and click photos to expand.

Classroom Update

Jim built new shelves for the classroom’s storage room and we teamed up to install them with some help from Momentum staff.

We used Jim’s Tesla Model Y as a “truck” to tote the shelving components to the classroom.

Tesla cars are awesome – but ENP really needs a dedicated work truck/community outreach and service vehicle – more on this later in this update.

These new super strong shelves make our storage room far more organized and much safer for our students.

THANK YOU JIM HARDY for your expert assistance, ability, and guidance with this and all our projects – without you, we could not have made any of this happen.

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Classroom Solar Project Update

This spring we received a fantastic donation from Mike Dietham of SolFarm Solar Co in Asheville, NC

– a new home energy storage battery!!-

This valuable battery – when coupled with two more just like it – will allow us to capture much of the excess solar-generated electricity we produce from our classroom array, and store it for use at night, and during the frequent grid power outages we experience in our remote location.

THANK YOU MIKE

and

SOLFARM SOLAR

for this most generous donation!!

That’s Mike Dietham of SolFarm using his 100% electric forklift to load the battery module onto a trailer.

The trailer was attached to the “Mighty” Bolt – ENP’s outreach EV.

We feel it is so very appropriate that a home storage battery, donated by a locally-owned and operated solar installation company, is destined to be used to store excess solar-produced clean energy for an environmental education center powered by solar energy produced by the center’s own solar modules, and that strives to teach ways we can make better energy choices by using locally-produced and renewably-harvested, energy sources – such as the solar panels that power our classroom. Along with all that awesome, the Mighty Bolt outreach EV is charged (fueled) by some of that excess solar-produced electricity produced by the very same classroom solar array that this big battery will be coupled with. This will make our classroom 100% net zero, energy secure, and able to withstand any grid outages – and it may even allow us to go completely off-grid!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention – the trailer is locally produced by Sylvan Sport – so cool!

Think globally, act locally.

Several students visiting our classroom on a field trip from Dr. Cabin’s class at Brevard College assisted me with the installation of this battery into its final location in our classroom/lab –

THANK YOU ALL!

However, this big storage battery system is not yet online and functioning. To make this system fully operational we need to secure the donation of two more LG RESU 16 Prime battery units and/or raise the funds needed to acquire them. If you are interested in assisting us in completing this third and final phase of this project, which my students, volunteers, and community supporters started over 6 years ago, please do contact us or visit our donation page.

All donations to our 501c3 are tax deductible.

–UPDATE–

We recently received an amazing grant that will allow us to purchase another LG RESU Prime 16 battery unit – we are now 2/3 of the way to our goal!! Thank you Lake Toxaway Charities for this wonderful and most generous support!!

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Outreach Programming Update

We have participated in several local renewable energy and Electric Vehicle (EV) community education programs and renewable energy education/demonstration events in our county of residence and in neighboring Henderson and Buncombe Counties with the Blue Ridge EV Club, Conserving Carolina, and the Transylvania Creation Care Fellowship. What follow are a few photos from the first half of the 2023 outreach programming season.

We started off the year in February with an EV program for Conserving Carolina.

All the participants were very interested and engaged in learning all about the joys and adaptations of driving electric.

The next photo is from a Solar Energy Fair organized by the Transylvania Creation Care Fellowship. In attendance were three local solar installation companies, several EV drivers, and Steve and the SS NaSA PoD from ENP. Our goal was to spread the word about solar and EV technologies available to individuals and businesses as a way to help everyone become better stewards of our shared environmental life support system – nature.

At the Drive Electric Earth Day event, over 70 EVs of various makes and models were in attendance. We had a steady flow of people interested in learning about driving electric and it was a grand success! Look in the center distance for The PoD – its micro-grid provided solar-sourced electricity to run the PA/sound system during the event and charge a participant’s EV – so cool!

At the Earth Day EV show in Hendersonville, NC, I watched as The Air Avenger and The Smog Queen “battled” for the health of our shared environment.

The Air Avenger won the duel – now the rest of us need to follow his lead and do what is right.

During normal working hours, you will find these two mild-mannered individuals working hard fighting for our shared environment at Land of the Sky Regional Council and the NC Department of Air Quality.

__________

We visited Oskar Blues Brewery which hosted our spring fundraiser for their “Making a Difference Monday” event series.

At our fundraiser, we joined forces with Adventure Grown Guides and several local EV drivers to share our knowledge and passion for our causes on this beautiful blustery 1st of May. The fundraiser was a success, getting us started on our way to raising the support needed to complete Phase Three of our ongoing classroom solar array project and our new outreach vehicle fundraiser project.

Wonderful long-time ENP volunteer extraordinaire Paulina sharing one of our friendly reptilian ambassadors – Elongated Muskadine – with a young friend.

The awesome crew from Adventure Grown Guides shared their guide service offerings with visitors.

Please contact them for all your adventuring needs when in WNC.

__________

In mid-May, we had a wonderful weekend outing sharing nature and science knowledge with hundreds of interested festival-goers at the wonderful

Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF)

High above our camp

We had a great location

So much fun!

Learning is fun!

Cade and Ashley

The PoD’s microscope station is a wonderful educational attraction!

Below are some beautiful diatoms some of our visitors found under our microscopes. They found them in lake water they collected from just 50 feet away in Lake Eden – so very cool!

The wonderful ENP volunteer crew and our LEAF camp.

We also presented an evening program for the wonderful folks of the Sherwood Forest Community in Cedar Mountain, NC at the Robin Hood Barn.

It was a wonderful event where Meredith, Jim, and I shared our passion for nature and wildlife conservation – especially for the more misunderstood creatures of the fields and forests such as snakes of all kinds and the ENP mascot – the Eastern box turtle.

Many heaps of gratitude to Billy and Gail, Meredith and Mary Beth, and all the wonderful residents of the Cedar Mountain and the Sherwood Forest communities who have been some of ENP’s most loyal project supporters since our inception over 15 years ago – you are all heroes!

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM ROBISON

Learn more about the Eastern box turtle in this amazing article featuring ENP in a recent publication of

Our State magazine

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A new ambassador for his species

In early July we received a new juvenile Opossum joey. This young marsupial had been found by a friend in a forest after a stormy night. It was small, weak, and clearly needed some assistance if it was going to survive. My friend is also an animal advocate so he and his family took the little orphan into their home and took great care of him until he was ready to be released. His time with the family and their pets imprinted the little Opossum on the human way of life so he could no longer be released into “the wild.” This is why he is now living under our care at the ENP/Trails Science nature center. His name is Taylor Slow and he is so incredibly friendly and everyone who has met him loves him so much and gains a new appreciation and understanding of the most important role the Opossum plays in a healthy ecosystem.

Photo by Steve Atkins of Fox Cove Photography

Taylor now lives in the Possum Palace at our classroom teaching everyone he meets about the awesome ‘possum so please let us know if you would like to visit and we will be sure to arrange it 🙂

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SS NaSA PoD Update

This spring we installed a few new ENP-appropriate decals on the SS NaSA PoD – THANK YOU to our friends at Peppermint Narwhal for donating the wonderful artwork for The PoD’s decals allowing us to make all this awesome happen! Please visit Peppermint Narwhal and check out all the amazing things they have to offer!

We also met up with Asher and family, who are some of the SS NaSA PoD’s biggest supporters. During our time together Asher took the opportunity to sign The PoD’s hull.

It was so wonderful to see Asher and family again after all this time. We are so grateful for their contribution to this magical mobile classroom project – without them, none of this would have ever been possible! THANK YOU AGAIN, Asher and family – we at ENP are eternally grateful for your generous and most wonderful support!!!

______________________

Speaking of The SS NaSA PoD, ENP also received a most generous donation of a special electronic component called an Autotransformer from Bob Harris of Black Bear Solar Institute.

I have installed this fascinating device which now allows the PoD’s storage batteries to be charged via “shore power” using almost any electric vehicle charger of the J-1772 variety. These charging units (AKA EVSE) are common in many parts of our service area, therefore, if the sun is not out and/or our battery bank is low we can simply pull into an EV charger, plug in, and fill up the PoD’s batteries on locally-sourced electrons – isn’t science, technology, and engineering amazing! (The PoD is also able to charge via the standard 30 and 50-amp campground connectors and 120VAC.)

Below is a photo of The PoD charging up via a J1772 EV connector.

The PoD is now functionally complete and fully operational. THANK YOU to everyone who made this amazing mobile environmental outreach classroom possible – you are all heroes of the highest order!

_____________________________________________________

We are now working very hard to raise the funds needed to acquire an all-electric pickup to act as a tow vehicle for the PoD, and serve as a service vehicle for our future ENP community assistance program. Below are a few renderings of what this could look like once we raise the support needed to make it happen.

(not to scale)

The PoD and a Tesla Cybertruck (Steve’s favorite)

The PoD and a Rivian R1T EV pickup

The PoD and a Ford F-150 Lightning EV pickup

As of 8/2/23, we have raised close to $4000, but we still have a VERY long way to go. If you are interested in supporting our wonderful volunteer-operated 501c3 organization with this, or any of our other projects, please consider helping us reach our goals with a donation of any size, form, or function. Read all the details of this campaign on the New Outreach Vehicle Fundraiser page on our website, visit our GoFundMe campaign, or the donate page on our website. Or if you prefer to send a check via “snail” mail, just contact us and we will be glad to give you our mailing address.

Please consider sharing this information with others – THANK YOU.

______________________

We are now well into our very busy summer camp programming season of presentations at camps, events, Trails, and private homes all over the WNC area.

Below is a slideshow following the first half of 2023.

  • Asher investigates some pond water under the microscope
  • We love The PoD!
  • Microscope fun at UFBRF!
  • Paulina sharing Slip the Rat snake with visitors at the Upper French Broad River Festival (UFBRF)
  • Rudy sharing solar and EV knowledge and personal experience with a visitor at the UFBRF
  • At the UFBRF
  • The bio-artifact table
  • More artifacts and a live Copperhead – the snake was released into the wild later in the day
  • At the UFBRF – we shared nature knowledge and teamed up with the Blue Ridge EV Club to share renewable energy and EV knowledge with festival attendees. NOTE: The Tesla is charging via The PoD’s solar array and, like The PoD, the golf cart is a solar powered mobile microgrid!
  • Afternoon program at Camp Merrie Woode – can you find The PoD?
  • At Merrie Woode
  • Meeting Charlie at Merrie Woode
  • Paulina sharing nature knowledge at Bound for Glory Camp
  • Steve and Slip, Rylee and Paisley at Camp Illahee
  • Nature class @ Camp Illahee
  • Rex the Redfoot tortoise sporting his new Tile tracker at Camp Illahee
  • Steve and Taylor
  • High over the forest – can you find The PoD and our classroom*? *Look for the corner of the solar array.
  • At the Lake Toxaway Nature Park in July
    At the Lake Toxaway Nature Park in July
  • Our display at the Lake Toxaway Nature Park
  • High above the The PoD at the Lake Toxaway Nature Park
  • Looking over Lake Toxaway
  • Rylee and Taylor Slow the Opossum at Camp Carolina
  • Opening day program at Camp Carolina
  • High over Camp Merri Woode
  • Steve and Taylor

That is all for now, look for our end-of-year report in December.

If you are interested in having us visit your camp, school, home, office, or event in the WNC, Upstate SC, or East Tennessee areas – please contact us and we will work to make it happen.

THANK YOU ALL for working with us to make Earthshine Nature Programs possible!

Note: Any/all advertisements found within this post are not endorsed by ENP.

SS NaSA PoD Update #12

Posted on by Stevo

Over the past few weeks of summer, the crew at ENP has been hard at work presenting many wildlife and nature education programs to hundreds of campers at local summer and day camps – it has been so rewarding and so much fun! It has also been wonderful to have the SS NaSA PoD supporting and augmenting our programming efforts – it is a wonderful piece of engineering that is making all the awesome possible!

It has been so busy over the last several weeks that we have not had much time to work on the few remaining tasks needed to complete the PoD, between our full-time jobs and all the programs there is just not enough time in the day. Now that our summer programming schedule is winding down and all the campers are returning to school, we will have more time to concentrate on the remaining tasks – but first, a few photos from the first summer with the SS NaSA PoD!

It was a wonderfully busy summer of nature and wildlife conservation education, science communication, and solar power and there is much more to come!

However, along with the educational fun, we did have one issue that we had to deal with since it was directly related to the health of our animal ambassadors when they are residing in the PoD – we were forced to replace the PoD’s air conditioning unit when it failed in early July. Without climate control, the interior of the PoD could become overheated and/or saturated with high humidity leading to health concerns for our education animals as well as we human animals that sometimes reside in the PoD…and the Victron solar-electronics systems.

So, on July 4th weekend Jim and I set out to replace the old air conditioning unit and after much “MacGyvering” by me and custom fabricated woodworking by Jim – the new AC unit is now in place and working perfectly, the animals are climate controlled, and the interior of the PoD and its solar-electronic support systems are dry.

In keeping with my tradition of being totally transparent with all our nonprofit projects that many of you have supported – I have made a detailed video of the entire air conditioner replacement process. After the introduction of the problem and the job description, most of the video is produced in time-lapse mode so as not to bore you with this several hours long project. I must admit that for many people I would predict that a video about replacing an air conditioner is not what most would call engaging viewing – but it is interesting what we had to do to make this work. That being said, if you are the type of person who likes the process as well as the product then this video will hopefully interest you.

Also during July, we took one day off to gather with family and friends for a picnic. At the same time, I took this opportunity to give the PoD and its new AC unit an overnight camping test so I packed up the PoD and the pup and headed over the mountains to a small creekside RV park in the tiny town of Maggie Valley just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The PoD and its new AC unit worked perfectly and we never had to plug into the nearby electric service since the solar array fully covered all power needs – so awesome – and the pup and I had a great time visiting with everyone. That’s me and my awesome dad Lee cooking fish for everyone.

Our little old pup Tange just loves to camp!

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported and is continuing to support this most unique environmental outreach education project – we are eternally grateful for your most generous support. You are all the greatest of heroes!!!

This amazing outreach education project will serve to inspire and educate all the curiosity seekers who discover it. But to do this right – we do still need your support. The next steps in working toward the completion of the PoD are outlined below and will most likely occur in the following order:

  • Installing the microscope station – it will be on order soon and will be fully outlined in the next update!
  • Installing the telescope – yes, I said telescope. The PoD will have a telescope available for special “sky party” night programs!! This telescope will use a special camera* to connect to the PoD’s flatscreen monitor to allow large groups of people to view all the awesome from the cosmos that surrounds our pale blue dot of a planet. More on this later.
  • Painting the PoD and installing appropriate decals/insignia.* (updates in the next update)
  • Stocking the field guide library.
  • Updating the curtains/cushions with an appropriate theme.
  • Installing the 120/240 Volt “shore power” service.
  • Installing the composting toilet.*

*These are our remaining needs. If you are interested in assisting us with a donation of these final items and/or the support needed for us to be able to complete this project – please do contact us directly or feel free to donate via the links below.  

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page:  www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

If you do choose to assist us in making this project a reality, this unique mobile classroom will greatly benefit the nature, environment, and wildlife conservation education, evidence-supported science, reality, common sense, and renewable energy awareness education for all our outreach program participants in the WNC region as well as our wonderful students at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum who will benefit from the unique wonders it will contain while they are in class and in the field on expedition. 

We will be sure to share any and all updates in posts on this blog, in our end-of-year newsletter, and on our YouTube channel so please consider subscribing to stay up to date on this wonderful project.

The SS NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP (501c3) and used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom for ENP and our education partners Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum.  They will be powered and fueled primarily with cleanly-generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and the SS NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They will both serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students and ENP outreach program participants.

If you have read this far here’s something interesting and cool – the PoD can charge an electric vehicle! Out of curiosity, I plugged the Mighty Bolt EV into the PoD and it charges without any issues! This is not only free solar-generated fuel for the car but it is also a great thing to have in case the power ever goes out all over the area. Even better – when the PoD is complete it will be able to provide power from its solar array-battery storage system to our house if we ever have a long-term power outage – so very cool!!

I hear you asking “what are the orange cones for?” The answer: until we install a fence/railing they are there to warn people of the steep drop-off between the upper and lower driveways.

Please note: any/all ads that appear within or below this post are not provided, supported, or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads –

NaSA PoD Update #10

Posted on by Stevo

On May 18th we completed the primary construction and retrofitting of the PoD.

On May 20th my wife Marian, our little terrier Tange, and I took the PoD on a 200-mile round trip “shakedown cruise” to a friend’s farm in a remote, mountainous region of our home state.

The PoD towed perfectly behind its current tow vehicle – a 2013 Honda Pilot. At one point we had to make a pit stop at a massive truck port. Can you find the PoD in the below photo?

It is very tiny compared to all the huge trucks.

Once we arrived at my friend Rusty’s house we set up camp similar to the way we would set things up at a multi-day festival event.

Over the several days the three of us lived in the PoD – I am very happy to say that all the PoD’s systems worked exactly as we engineered them. The heart of the PoD – the 1780 Watt solar array and Victron electronics/battery storage system – provided us with loads of clean energy without even a hiccup. The original and updated wiring, electronics, and plumbing also worked perfectly. We were also able to test the PoD’s waterproofing when we had almost a full day of soaking rains giving the PoD a good leak test – and I am very happy to report that it passed with almost zero leaks. The only leak we found was a small seep on one of the windows in the main bunk area. The leak stopped on its own but just to be safe I will seal up the frame of the window in question with a bit of silicone.

While on our adventure we were lucky to be able to experience one of Rusty’s Honeybee hives swarming – it was a truly amazing spectacle to behold (“beehold” – hmmm…holding bees is not recommended).

On the return trip, we stopped for lunch and parked the PoD (in the center of the next image) in a lot next to a building with its rooftop covered in solar and two electric vehicle charge points (not in the photo but just off to the right) – it is really nice to be a part of a clean energy-powered future.

The only hard part to take during the entire shakedown cruise was paying for the expensive petro-chemical fuel needed to pull the PoD over the mountains. One day soon, in the not-so-distant future – we will replace the gas-guzzling Honda tow vehicle with an all-electric truck of some design, and then this project will truly be complete.

While on the “shakedown cruise” we made a documentary of the PoD on its first adventure – enjoy.

With the success of our shakedown cruise, the PoD is mostly complete and functional so it is to a point where it is actually useable for the purpose it was intended.

To that end goal, our first official outreach program using the PoD will take place on June 5th, 2022!

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported and is continuing to support this most unique environmental outreach education project – we are eternally grateful for your most generous support. You are all the greatest of heroes!!!

This amazing outreach education project will serve to inspire and educate all the curiosity seekers who discover it. But to do this right – we do still need your support. The next steps in working toward the completion of the PoD are outlined below and will most likely occur in the following order:

  1. Installing the habitat pods.
  2. Attachment of the external flat screen monitor and its support arm structure.
  3. Installing the microscope station.*
  4. Stocking the field guide library.*
  5. Updating the curtains and cushions with an appropriate theme.
  6. Installing the 120/240 Volt “shore power” service.
  7. Painting the PoD.*
  8. Installing the composting toilet.*

*These are our remaining needs. If you are interested in assisting us with a donation of these final items and/or the support needed for us to be able to complete this project – please do contact us directly or feel free to donate via the links below.  

Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website 

or our GoFundMe page:  www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

If you do choose to assist us in making this project a reality, this unique mobile classroom will greatly benefit the nature, environment, and wildlife conservation education, evidence-supported science, reality, common sense, and renewable energy awareness education for all our outreach program participants in the WNC region as well as our wonderful students at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum who will benefit from the unique wonders it will contain while they are in class and in the field on expedition. 

We will be sure to share any and all updates in posts on this blog, in our end-of-year newsletter, and on our YouTube channel so please consider subscribing to stay up to date on this wonderful project.

The ENP NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP (501c3) and used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom for ENP and our education partners Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum.  They will be powered and fueled primarily with cleanly-generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and the NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They will both serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students and ENP outreach program participants.

Please note: any/all ads that appear within or below this post are not provided, supported, or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.

NaSA PoD Project Update #9

Posted on by Stevo

Over the last month, we have worked very hard on the PoD and we are happy to report that it is mostly complete! Recently we took it on its shakedown cruise – but before I tell you how that went I would like to give you a breakdown of the progress we have made since our last update. I could show several static photographs but instead, I have decided to share with you video update #2 that goes over all of the changes to the interior since the last update as well as a unique time-lapse of much of the work we have completed over the last 5 weeks or so. I hope you enjoy watching this update in video format but please note – it covers a lot of ground so it is a bit long at just over 1/2 an hour.

In our next update and video, we will cover the latest modifications to the exterior of the PoD as well as how it performed on its “shakedown cruise.”

This amazing education project will serve to inspire and educate all the curiosity seekers who discover it. But to do this right – we still need your support. If you choose to assist us in making this project a reality, this unique mobile classroom will greatly benefit the nature and wildlife conservation education, evidence-supported science, reality, common sense, and renewable energy awareness education for all our outreach program participants in the WNC region as well as our wonderful students at Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum who will benefit from the unique wonders it will contain while they are in class and in the field on expedition. 

 Please consider supporting this project via the donate link on our website or our GoFundMe page:   www.gofundme.com/lets-build-a-mobile-outreach-classroom

The construction and use of this unique mobile classroom will be documented on this blog, in our end-of-year newsletter, and on our YouTube channel.  

The ENP NaSA PoD and the Mighty Bolt EV (our primary outreach vehicle) are owned by ENP and used primarily as the ENP company outreach vehicle and mobile outreach classroom for ENP and our education partners Trails Carolina and Trails Momentum.  They will be powered and fueled primarily with cleanly-generated electricity provided by the ENP/Trails student-built classroom solar array and the NaSA PoD’s rooftop solar array. They will both serve as outstanding teaching tools for our Trails students, ENP outreach program participants, and everyone we meet via our outreach programs.

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported and is continuing to support this most unique project – you are all the greatest of heroes!!!

Please note: any/all ads that appear within or below this post are not provided, supported, or endorsed by ENP nor are we supported in any way by these ads – they are an automated feature of WordPress.com.