Benefit concerts for music school

Ben Ptashnik has a vision: to make San Miguel de Allende the solar energy capital of Mexico. Based on his track record, it wouldn't pay to bet against him. A long-time environmental activist and former senator from Vermont, Ptashnik founded EarthRight Institute in 1988 to promote renewable energy, recycling and the conservation of energy and water resources.Those goals were realized and institutionalized in Vermont state policy.

Now, as he shifts his home to Mexico, they are what drive his efforts in San Miguel. "As gas prices and the cost of electricity skyrocket, the time for solar energy in Mexico is now," he says. "And because of San Miguel's geographical location, high altitude and excellent year-round sunshine, this region has some of the best solar energy in the world. Very few locations have better potential for solar." Apparently, there are many San Miguel residents who agree it is time to consider the move to solar. More than 200 people turned out for standing-room-only seminars in mid-Januar
y to hear Ben and two international solar experts explain their plan to bring energy independence to San Miguel. As a result of the conference, dozens of participants volunteered to help promote solar energy, and at least 30 have already requested help installing solar hot water systems or photovoltaic systems that produce electricity.

"Everyone has heard that the world is running out of fossil fuels," says Ptashnik, "but too few seem to understand the implications for the lives of our children and their children. We just have not grasped how quickly this crisis is unfolding."

Ptashnik stresses that EarthRight Institute's plan for energy independence reaches beyond the most fortunate who can afford to invest in the larger systems. "It is the poorest who are most hard-hit by exploding energy costs and need solar photovoltaic electricity in the villages and towns not served by the electric monopoly." To that end, he says, EarthRight is researching small solar systems currently in use in India, Brazil, Cambodia, Yemen and South Africa that can run a few lights and a TV/radio. Slightly larger systems can also power a refrigerator.

As a state senator, Ptashnik was deeply involved in energy policy and understands the emerging issues. At the conference, he repeatedly mentioned that oil industry experts estimate humans consumed about half of our planet's known petroleum reserves, one trillion barrels of oil, in just the 20th century alone. At the current consumption rate of 24 billion barrels a year, the remaining one trillion barrels will be gone in 35 to 40 years. "The price of oil and gas is climbing rapidly because of increased demand and extremely high extraction and production costs," said Ptashnik. "Oil rose from $16 per barrel on average in the last decade to $65 today, and it will likely reach $150 to $200 a barrel within the next decade. We are on a train heading for a cliff, and it is important to recognize that the free market and most political leaders have not made much effort to build a bridge to the other side. As private citizens, we need to start building that bridge ourselves, and we had better scramble."

Many countries and some US states are not waiting; they can't afford to let oil depletion undermine their economies or increase their dependence on foreign energy imports. Israel, for instance, has been a solar pioneer for several decades and has mandated that all water heaters in Israel must be solar. Germany has implemented a 100% renewable energy policy that subsidizes 5 of every 10 Euros spent on solar energy installation by homeowners and businesses.

The use of photovoltaic (PV) systems in rural regions of developing countries has increased dramatically over the past decade because of the cost and difficulty of obtaining service from traditional power grid electrification systems. The Marshall Islands in the South Pacific have electrified all homes on two of the main islands with solar and are planning two more islands this year. In Yemen, Cambodia, South Africa, Brazil, China and the Dominican Republic, successful solar energy programs have improved the lives of rural residents. Experience has shown that the minute you put solar electricity in a Third-World village, economic activity increases and per capita income rises quickly.

In the United States, where the current federal government has done little to support solar technology, many states are attacking the problem on their own. California has just voted to invest $3.2 billion over the next 11 years for rebates to homes, businesses, farms and public buildings that install solar energy systems. The subsidy would pay about one-third of the cost of installation.

Faced with the cost of increasing capacity and repairing its crumbling power plant and generation transmission systems, New Jersey has implemented an aggressive rebate plan that subsidizes $5 of every $8 spent on solar energy by homeowners and businesses.

Officials believe the state will save hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the subsidy program. Colorado has just launched a policy of rebates and tax credits that will pay more than 50% of a system's cost.

Mexico has not ignored the potential of solar technologies, but implementation has been slow. The Mexico Renewable Energy Program focuses on rural, off-grid, productive-use renewable energy applications, particularly PV, small wind and solar thermal systems. Some of its most notable successes have been in the remote countryside using PV panels to pump water for livestock. There has also been progress installing larger PV systems for electricity and hot water in urban and tourist areas. A quick search of the internet reveals a small but growing list of solar-energy businesses throughout the country.

Mexico also has the Asociación Nacional de Energía Solar, which meets annually in Veracruz in October for a conference in conjunction with Mexican National Solar Energy Week.

But Mexico lacks a robust solar energy industry such as that in Europe, the US and Japan, and there is little solar technological expertise here. EarthRight Institute will bring a training program to San Miguel to teach local vendors how to design and install solar hot-water systems and PV arrays for generating electricity. EarthRight will team up with Solar Energy International, which has conducted scores of workshops and trainings for the solar industry throughout the US. The Institute is also getting help from the two longtime "solar troublemakers" who spoke at the San Miguel solar conference, Jim Welch and Leigh Seddon.

Welch, the president and founder of Colorado's Remote Power and Sun Electric Systems ( www.sunelectricsystems.com), has been a leader in the renewable energy industry for almost 30 years. His companies have designed and installed thousands of solar systems for telecommunications, agricultural and residential applications, and he has worked extensively in Third-World countries. Seddon's Vermont-based Solar Works ( www.solar-works.com) has provided renewable energy services and equipment to government agencies, utilities, businesses, homeowners and nonprofit organizations since 1980.

"A solar hot water system is the best place to start because it can reduce gas bills by as much as 70%," says Seddon. "A conventional water heater that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, just so the water is hot when you're ready to wash the dishes or take a shower is enormously wasteful."

SolarWorks will design several solar hot water system configurations for San Miguel, ranging in cost from $2,000 to $6,500. Estimated payback time for the cost of installing a system ranges from 4 to 6 years based on today's liquid petroleum gas (LPG) prices. The supplier for these systems is SunEarth of California, which recently was picked to supply a hot water system for the White House in Washington, D.C.

One local solar energy company has already formed as a result of the conference. With the help of Ptashnik and Seddon, San Miguel native Benjamin Serafin has launched Solar San Miguel to distribute and install hot water and photovoltaic solar systems. Serafin flew to California in early February, where he spent a week at SunEarth training as a solar energy system designer.

The first SunEarth hot water and photovoltaic systems have already been delivered and installed at Solar San Miguel's new office at Pila Seca 53A. Serafin ordered an on-grid, 12-panel Mitsubishi photovoltaic array designed to provide 2,000 watts per day, which will generate 80% of his energy needs for three offices. He estimates the installation costs will be paid back within 8 to 10 years at today's CFE prices. Just as important, he feels, is that he will not be dependent on the whims and uncertainty of the volatile power industry. "If electricity goes up in price," he says, "and I am quite sure it will, then the system will pay for itself even sooner."

There are essentially two types of solar photovoltaic installations appropriate for San Miguel: grid-tie with battery backup and off-grid solar with more battery storage. The first type, which is less expensive to install, provides solar power via PV panels and a small battery storage. It is hooked into the electrical grid (i.e., CFE), so when you are not generating enough electricity to meet your household demand, the grid fills it. The batteries provide some power at night, when no electricity is being generated. Off-grid battery-power installations are primarily intended for use in the campo, for homes where there is no easy access to the grid. The battery bank for such houses is usually more expensive.

With arrays ranging from 4 to 20 panels, how do you know what your needs are? "By filling out an assessment that calculates your daily maximum usage and sizing the system to that demand," says Seddon. "But first, to reduce the cost of the system, we assess how the client can cut consumption by changing to more energy-efficient appliances, such as compact fluorescent bulbs and high-efficiency refrigerators. Most people can reduce consumption by 20 to 30% just by changing light bulbs and refrigerators."

Ben Ptashnik is no stranger to this city. He is now retired here but has been coming to San Miguel since 1978 and has a record for accomplishing his goals. His fondness for buying Mexican folk art and reselling it in the United States turned into a company called Via Vermont, which was once San Miguel's largest employer. Ptashnik designed stained-glass products (music boxes, picture frames, sun catchers, kaleidoscopes, and the like) and imported the stained glass, music movements, and Austrian crystals to San Miguel for assembly and export. "We operated as a co-op that returned 15% to 20% of the profits to the 600 artisan families we employed," he says proudly. The company operated from 1984 to 1999.

He was an early advocate of the organic food movement and established the first co-op in New York City in 1972 for distributing organic products to the area. It still exists today and has more than 3,000 members. The Northeast Organic Farmers Association he helped organize in Vermont now has more than 500 farmer-members and is in its 30th year of existence. In 1996, he ran for the Vermont state senate, where he shepherded a law to require state power industries to adopt mandatory efficiency and conservation standards. He retired after serving two terms and moved to Mexico shortly thereafter to pursue his goal of bringing solar energy to San Miguel.

"I want this to be a thriving permanent "green" industry in San Miguel," says Ptashnik. "I envision the city will become a cornerstone of an emerging solar industry in Mexico. It will not only have more solar installations per capita than anywhere else in Mexico, but it will become a technical training center that sends electricians, solar engineers and trained technicians to other parts of Mexico. It will take a lot of hard work and a good few years, but it will happen. We can be saving the planet while promoting green economic development."

Ben Ptashnik can be reached at 044-415-153-5164 and Ben Serafin at 044-415-153-3133.