Custer, Wisconsin
Instructor Mark Klein and Jim McKnight
http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=810913
Tuition $110.00
Taught by Midwest Renewable Energy Association instructors, this workshop will cover the basics of energy efficient and environmentally-friendly construction, including site analysis, passive solar design strategies, super-insulated frame construction techniques, sustainable building materials, renewable heating systems and mechanical systems.
Please register in advance. E-mail: greta@the-mrea.org Phone: 715-592-6596
Cerrillos, NM
Learn how to create your own solar water heater in this one day class. Steve Baer will explain the energy dynamics of different ways of heating water and introduce solar heater designs suitable for home construction. He will give examples of how they can be integrated with existing structures and systems.
In the afternoon, we will put together a passive thermosyphoning water heater with Zomeworks’ ‘skymat’ which will be plumbed into Ampersand’s sustainable home. Helene will guide us through this process, detailing the proper tools and materials to use as well as explaining the necessary order of installation.
Skymats will be available for purchase. 10:00am to 5:00pm
Instructors: Steve Baer and Helene Beauchamp. .
Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center. Class Fee:$75 to $55 sliding scale.
http://www.ampersandproject.org/index.html
| September 14, 2009 | to | September 26, 2009 |
Saint Laurent Sous Coiron, France
In this intensive two-week workshop students will experience a full-spectrum natural building project that they assist in designing and developing for our hosts at the Art Farm. We’ll spend the first few days thoroughly analyzing our host site, getting to know the climate, topography, water movement and availability, land use patterns and available natural materials while concurrently exploring the building and structural needs of our hosts. With this information, we’ll participate in a group design intensive, developing an ecological building design that is appropriately suited to these parameters. The remainder of the course (approximately ten days) will be spent building our collective design using locally available, natural materials including stone, clay, sand, fiber, wood and more. We will explore and experiment with a number of different natural wall systems including cob, straw bale, wattle and daub, dry laid stone, and light straw clay and examine their respective pros and cons in a range of climates. Through lectures, slide shows and most importantly, hands-on construction, we’ll experience all aspects of the building process, including foundations, walls and roofs and take a deeper look into building science with a particular emphasis on siting, insulation/thermal mass, passive solar design, super-efficient wood heating systems and the design of functional, energy-efficient small structures. Finally, recognizing that buildings do not exist in isolation from other aspects of our environment, the workshop will be taught within a broad, permaculture-inspired framework, thereby creating connections between the structure and function of our buildings within the wider world. $1780. Contact 802 999-2768. Web site: http://sgnb.com/learn .
