From: Clifford J. Thompson [cliff@cresswell.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March/18-03 9:19 p
To: AfricanOutlet Horgan Edet; Horgan & Judah African Outlet
Subject: Pump for Africa from Hopland CA
Hi Judah (& Cc'd monthly 1st Sunday meeting group),
Judah, got your call for your friend's need for a water pump for Africa before May & for info on the place we discussed at the last Sunday meeting for where to get the pump, in Hopland, California, called The Real Goods Company, which is the current "living tradition" of the original 60's Whole Earth Catalog/Company. Here the information you requested - all the notes below are backed up by hyperlinks to the mentioned resources, at the end of this email.
Here's the info on the Hopland store:
The Real Goods Company in Hopland was formed by members of the original '60's, (and is the "reincarnation" of), The Whole Earth Company, who published the Whole Earth Catalog, the original '60's hippies commune building "bible" of Alternative Sustainable Living & Renewable Energy Technologies and "Off-Grid" Utilities, put together by Stewart Brand.
The Real Goods Company store in Hopland is the "flagship" store. The store also hosts their non-profit spin-off called "Solar Living Institute", where many of the technologies are "up-&-running" & on display. The Institute offers many on-going workshops on how to implement the various Sustainable Living & Renewable Energy Technologies, all of which have a very familiar "Peace Corps-like flavor". The workshops cost a fee, but are very comprehensive (some several days long) and provide a lot for the cost. In fact there is a lucrative construction/engineering business for anyone taking the workshops, then delivering consulting & implementing solutions to "3rd world" countries and villages world-wide, that could benefit by these technologies.
The Real Goods Company/Solar Living Institute, to bring it all together, has an annual weekend Festival called "Solfest" at the Hopland location, where they bring out, set-up & demonstrate all the technologies - this years event, SolFest 2003, is slated for August 23rd and 24th. They also do all the workshops mentioned above, the difference being, if I remember correctly, the Solfest workshops are no fee, ALL FREE. The Solfest typically includes speakers, entertainment, educational workshops, exhibitor booths with renewable energy and earth-friendly products, along with an electric vehicle parade. The Festival is also a lot of fun, kind of like a "hippy day on the green" outdoor party, with lots of music bands and a Sunday Brunch Concert. We should all go!
Here's the info on the water pump:
The Real Goods Company has also "reincarnated" the original Whole Earth Catalog mentioned above, which they publish as a catalog (updated every year) called the "Real Goods Solar Living Source Book: The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living (Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook, 11th Ed)". You can order the catalog from The Real Goods Company, Amazon books or you can pick up a copy yourself in person at San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, from the bookstore there called "Builders Booksource" (900 North Point Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 440-5773). This bookstore has a whole free-standing rack of shelves of books on Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living topics. I was there last weekend and picked up a copy of the catalog for our monthly 1st Sunday meeting group's "resource library", which I'll bring to the next meeting.
The Real Goods Company website also has an on-line version of their catalog, in 2 forms, (1) a "Yahoo-like" directory called "Solar and Eco Information", and (2) an "index-like" directory called "Renewable Energy Catalog", which you can get to by clicking on buttons with the same names at the top of the homepage.
(1) "Solar and Eco Information" has a topic named "Water Pumping, Storage and Treatment", with a further link for "Ask our staff...tough questions"
(2) "Renewable Energy Catalog" has a section named "Water", and link named "water pumping" - this link is probably your best bet for tracking down the pump, as the information on this page is comprehensive
The Real Goods Company also offers a "Design & Consulting Group" service (last time I checked, quite a few years ago, the rates were around $35/hr.). The group offers a robust "Integrated Design Process" methodology (similar to the way the Peace Corps scopes out a village's initial profile status to determine need). This is often well worth the fee, for you can just bring them your problem & they can work out the most expert solution, rather than you have to figure it all out yourself with more limited expertise from a myriad of options.
OK, that takes care of all the background info. What follows below are all the links to the forgoing:
Store Links:
The Real Goods Company, Hopland flagship store
http://www.realgoods.com/
http://www.realgoods.com/service/retail.cfm
Solar Living Institute; Workshops (overview, schedule, descriptions)
http://www.solarliving.org/index.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/workshops.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/schedule.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/description.cfm
Solfest, 2003, free Workshop schedule
http://www.solarliving.org/solfest.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/solfest2003.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/WorkshopGridFinal.pdf
Real Goods Solar Living Source Book: Real Goods, Amazon
http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop4.cfm?dv=4&dp=401&ts=2081075&kw=Solar%20Living%20Source%20Book
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0916571041/qid=1046905886/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-7051321-6834268
Builders Booksource; SF Store
http://www.buildersbooksource.com/cgi-bin/booksite
http://www.buildersbooksource-sf.com/
Water pump Links:
Catalogs online: (1) "Solar and Eco Information"; (2) "Renewable Energy Catalog"
http://www.realgoods.com/
http://www.solareco.com/index.cfm
http://www.realgoods.com/renew/index.cfm
(1) "Solar and Eco Information" topic "Water Pumping, Storage and Treatment"
http://www.solareco.com/articles/info3.cfm
(2) "Renewable Energy Catalog" section "Water"; link "water pumping"
http://www.realgoods.com/renew/index.cfm
http://www.realgoods.com/renew/shop/list.cfm?dp=1900
"Design & Consulting Group" service; "Integrated Design Process" methodology
http://www.solardevelopment.com/index.html
http://www.solardevelopment.com/process.html
All Righty Then!
Regards,
Cliff Thompson
Mediameister,
San Francisco
Robotics Society of America (RSA)
RSA Legacy Website Creator
http://www.robots.org
Contributor,
NorCal Mobile Computing SIG
http://www.mobilecomputingsig.com/reviews.html
Founder,
San Francisco Bay Area
& Silicon Valley
AIBO Club (SFBASVAC)
www.robots.org/AIBO/
cliff@cresswell.net
(650) 954-6070 (mobile)