Technicians for Sustainability: Alternative energy sources

I toured the Technicians for Sustainability facility and learned about their work installing solar panels, solar water heaters and water harvesting systems. On Valentine’s Day, the owner of Technicians for Sustainability (TFS) Kevin Koch visited Xerocraft Hackerspace to visit my robotics team, the Bit Buckets, and see how our robot was doing. Kevin works full-time helping people achieve their sustainability goals and so I was curious about what he thought of my project.

 

When asked about what UA students could do to live more sustainably, Kevin had several recommendations. For instance, the best shower is the sailor shower, in which you soap up with the water off. Students could also achieve significant energy reductions by maintaining indoor temperatures set points at moderate levels similar to outdoor temperatures.  Transportation decisions could translate into a large net energy savings, if students choose to walk or ride a bike.  At the UA another big energy sink is refrigeration, especially the mini-fridges in dorm rooms because there are so many of them.  Advocacy was another area students could make a large impact on sustainability, by working for policy change that maximize sustainability.

Kevin Koch  (from the website at http://tfssolar.com/)

With a background as a neuroscientist and mountaineer, Kevin came to sustainability through his connection to nature. He believes in living symbiotically with his environment, which has led him to spend over fifteen years in the renewable energy field. He is NABCEP certified in Photovoltaics (PV) and Solar Thermal. He and his family live with PV, solar hot water, and greywater systems.