APPLICATIONS - Emergency Preparedness Centers
What if a power failure were to last two weeks?
In learning from the awful experiences in New Orleans, the Thomas Bradley Legacy Foundation in Los Angeles is working closely with the California Public Utilities Commission to create Emergency-Prepared (Em-Prep) Community Centers.
This buildings needs to be designed to with sustainability and efficiency in mind. One key to this design is locally powered DC electrical systems. These hybrid system will get power from the locally generated sources (Solar Cells, Wind, other) first, and only use the grid as a backup. Should the grid fail, even for an extended period of time, the system will sustain itself by using the locally generated power first, then supplementing with batteries, generators, or other sources if and when they are needed.
In one proposed design, based on the fact that DC power system are so versatile, is to allow plug-in hybrid vehicles to connect to the building to provide additional power that can be 'called in' if needed.
CPUC President Michael Peevey briefed on…
Community
Solar School Earthquake Preparedness Strategy
CPUC President Michael Peevey and
Gabrielino
High School
students
with
teacher Michael Winters at the
Off-grid
Audubon
Solar
Center
at
Debs
Park
Los Angeles
California Public Utilities Commission
president, Michael Peevey was briefed on the need for a community based wireless
solar school emergency preparedness plan that provides education and training
for students, teachers, and parents to be prepared, not scared, during an
earthquake disaster. The Green
Technology Institute of the Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation organized the
symposium at the
Audubon
Center
at
Debs
Park
, an off-grid 5,000 s.f. solar powered center near downtown
Los Angeles
.
The
Audubon
Center
is an operating showcase
for a
Wireless
Earthquake
Community
Crisis Center
and will become the gather place for the community in case of an
earthquake emergency. There are no gas
and sewer lines connecting to the Center. The wastewater is treated on site and is being recharged into the ground
as part of a water recycling program.
Career
Technology Educator (CTE) instructor, Michael Winters led the discussion with
the assistance of students from
Gabrielino
High School
who
prepared the presentation material for the Symposium. Solar industry leaders Mark Robinson of Nextek
Power Systems, Robert McAmis of-Solar Integrated Technology, Inc. and John
Gavlik of LearnOnLine presented their technologies and how they are involved
with the Wireless Emergency Community Crisis Center.
Michael
Winters states, “It is important that we learn from history, in this case
recent history. Not to criticize the efforts regarding the Katrina/Rita
disasters but to provide solutions to what became apparent in these events is
the need for long term needs for individuals stranded in the disaster area. In
California
many public
school facilities are designated as community gathering centers in the event of
a major disaster. We continue to hope that this does not occur on our watch yet
we now understand that we need to be ready on our watch if such an event occurs
in our regions. Students have created a plan with the participation of various
technology vendors that will create off grid centers that provide generated
energy for classroom use during regular operation and can immediately be
transformed into Emergency Community Crisis Centers (EC3)”
The
current design of the California Solar Initiative requires that the
photovoltaic system shuts down during a grid failure; therefore, the homeowners
will not have power during a disaster unless they have backup batteries. Currently, there are over 21,000 photovoltaic
system installations in
California
that will not operate during a power failure. Mark Robinson states, “There are three
barriers to using conventional local energy generation systems (like solar and
wind): Efficiency, Net Metering, and Anti-Islanding. The efficiency
losses to make the energy compatible with the grid are unnecessary
as the system needs to be designed to withstand long grid outages.
Net-Metering, selling back to the grid can cause difficulty if the utility
has no net-metering funds available. Anti-Islanding, a
law protecting utility maintenance personnel requires that most
generating systems be shut down in the event of a grid failure. These
barriers are avoided by powering local DC loads (lighting, motors, computers)
with locally generated energy where, when, and how it is
generated.’
Attendees
included Winston Doby, UC Vice President of Student Affairs who is focusing on
inspiring minority students to become excited about science and math as they
relate to renewable technology applications. Also participating, Greg Newhouse, Associate
Dean -Miramar College, Advanced Transportation and Stationary Technologies for
implementation of centers into the San Diego region.
The
Project Green Phoenix Symposium is part of a Solar School Initiative to
implement decentralized energy generation that dynamically engages students in
renewable energy education that enhanced academic learning while implementing,
monitoring and maintaining the energy generation systems. This training in our
public schools classrooms provides off grid cost savings for fiscal
independence and prepares young people for the future career opportunities in
the coming Green Revolution. Learning
from our lack of preparing students for the opportunities provided in the
Dotcom Revolution where we now depend on HB-1 visas for foreign workers to have
thousands of high paying positions, we must prepare our students in the areas
of science, math, and technology to meet the challenges in the 21st century.
Mr.
Peevey acknowledged that the concept was sound and the Project Green Phoenix team
submits a written proposal to the CPUC. Mr.
Peevey additionally requested that we involve additional Federal, State, Local
agencies and political leaders to make this program a reality.
Michael Winters, Mark Robinson, Michael
Peevey and Gurminder Singh
Les
Hamasaki , Managing Director of the Foundation, stated that the priority for
the California Solar Initiative should benefit the public, especially schools
and public park facilities rather than the individual homeowners. Also,
the solar rebate program should include incentivizing battery backup systems in
order for thousands of solar homeowners to become part of the neighborhood
emergency response network in case of a major earthquake disaster.
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