l Page 8 RAIN April 1979 Letters Council for Sustainable .Growth and Appropriate Development Dear Rain Staff, I am writing to let you know that there has been incorporated here in NM a "Council for Sustainable Growth and Appropriate Development" whose , purpose is to push for policies favorable to the development of an ecologically viable economy" within our state. The thought is to focus not so much on specific technical solutions (as in the fields of solar or "appropriate technology") as on cultivating within our state an understanding of the nature of an ecologically sound economy and productive system, based on renewable and biotic resources; of the population-distribution, settlement, land use, distribution and transportation pattern, etc., characteristic of such an economy; and of polic.ies which may impede or assist in the evolution of such an cconomy. Sincerely yours, Peter van Dresser 634 Garcia Street Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/982-1375 Dear folks, In the Feb'/Mar. Rain you printcd a letter from Marcus Oliver asking about trailer weatherization. Several months ago I met a fellow named Wayne Gathers, who works with the Office.of Community Energy of the Department of Community Services in Pennsylvania. His organization is prcsently conducting a fairly detailed study on the effects of different weatherization treatments on mobile homes. As I remember, he has got seven mobile homes with varying amounts and different kinds of retrofitted weatherization and will compare them with the performance of an unweatherized mobile home, as well as with each other. Their agency has put quite a bit of money into instrumcnting these homes, and designed their own microprocessor to handle the data, I think. Wayne was very interested in sharing the findings of his study with individuals or groups who could benefit from them. For more information write to; Wayne Gathers P.O. Box 156 Harrisburg, PAl 7120 7171783-2576 Yours, Bill Zocllick Oklahoma Solar Energy Assoc. Board Vice-Chairman Dear Rain friends, Winter weather has almost stopped activities in the Ozarks. January 1979 was the coldest January in recorded history with several sub-zero days. But the weather has been extreme everywhere- just as climatologists predicted. The back-to-the-land movement picked a hell of a time to happen, but things could be worse. With over 70 percent of Americans living on 2 percent of the land, rural life still has some advantages to balance out ice, snow and mud. Some answers to Rain (Feb'/Mar.) inquiries. Jim Copia may want to get in touch with Windy (Mark Dankof£) of Windlight Workshop, Rt. 2, Box 271, Santa Fe, NM 87501 , 505/471-2573. I'm sureWindy is doing more than any school when it comes to wind/solar e1ectrici ty. To answer Marcus Oliver's questions about weathe(izing trailers: 1 work with the weatherization program in northwest Arkansas, and we have started insulating trailers with styrofoam board. Use on~ or two inch styrofoam with aluminum foil. By gluing the styrofoam directly to the trailer roof, you can cut heat loss/gain both in winter and summer. Write to Insul-bead, Gravette, AR, for details. And finally, anyone out there using low voltage, low wattage home-grown electricity either wind or solar, please contact me so we can swap ideas. Include a stamp or something to help cover postage. Peace, Joel Davidson Dutton, AR 72726 Rain, Have heard some concern about results of steel brushes to clean creosote out of prefab chimneys (metalbestos-type). Apparently the inside steel is quite thin. But what are the alternatives? A pine tree or burlap bag doesn't do much of a job on creosote and a metal chain would probably be like a steel brush. Any thoughts or ideas? Warmly, Kal Winer Box 25 Burkettville, ME 04540 To my knowledge, no damage has ever occurred to prefabricated chimneys through the use of chimney brushes. Prefabricated cbimneys first appeared following World War II, and none of the brands (Pre-Jet, Metalbestos, Vitraliner, Belvent) I'm familiar with have ever failed. It is more likely that the life of the chimney would be reduced by frequent chimney fires. Bill Day SOLAR "". !" itu loll e ~ Eclipse, Bryan Brewer, 1978, $5.95 from: Earth View, Inc. 1629 Madrone Drive Seattle, WA 98122 We didn't get this in time to review in last month's magazine, so by now the Eclipse is history, and this book won't help you see it or save your retina. But if your curiosity got aroused, this is a delightfully informative account of the science of eclipses, and the human . havoc the mystery of their appearances has caused, without losing a sense of the beauty and wonder of the event. -TB A Bibliograpby for tbe Solar Home Builder, by Dr. Donald W. Aitken, 1979, 38 pp., free to California residents, $1.00 to out-of-state residents from: Office of Appropriate Technology 1530 Tenth Street Sacramento, CA 95814 A very' comprehensive annotated bibliography of books compiled by the director of the Center for Solar Energy Applications at San Jose State U. for OAT. Organized functionally as well as by level of difficulty from newcomers to experienced professionals, this lovely publication is easy to use if you're not addicted to indices, as one does not appear. Aside from the absence of a couple of periodicals, this otherwise thorough bibliography will warm your little taxpayer's heart! -LS Portland Sun 3334 S.W. 1st Portland, OR 97201 503/241-0317 Attached solar greenhouse and solar water heating construction workshops are happening on a monthly basis through November in Portland through our good friends, Portland Sun. If you'd like to be involved in a workshop as a participant or sponsor, contact Marnie McPhee. Participants learn about solar energy, greenhouses and basic construction as they build. And sponsors-someone whose house is the site of the workshop-receive a beautiful living space which also heats the home and produces nutritious food. Nice exchange! - LS
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