| 5/10/06
Project Solar Harvest Arrives
on Vashon-Maury Island
Vashon Island, WA, May 10, 2006.
LifeSense Institute, a new nonprofit corporation on VMI, announced
today the launch of its Project Solar Harvest, made possible
with a seed grant from Sustainable Vashon. Project
Solar Harvest will first build an educational model to demonstrate
a practical approach to solar heating that has shown success at several
northern latitudes, including Canada, Japan and Scandinavia. Founder
Robert Bornn explained, “Simply put, the approach collects the heat from
the summer’s sun and stores it in the ground for use next winter.
Its more complex than that technically, but that’s it in principle.”
He continued, “We think Vashon has an opportunity to play a leading role
in introducing this solar technology in the Pacific Northwest. We
are grateful to Sustainable Vashon
for their enthusiastic
support of this opportunity.”
LifeSense Institute plans
a three-stage pilot project, first with an educational and data collecting
model, then with increasingly larger feasibility prototypes. The
culmination of the pilot project will be a “neighborhood grid” for residential
or commercial heating. The neighborhood grid can also be used for
solar-heated greenhouses, allowing year-round local growing. A potentially
cost-saving and nature-integrated invention by Bornn that modifies the
way these systems are used elsewhere will also be tested.
Co-founder, Laura Worth explained
“The institute’s mission is to facilitate scientific and social innovations
that achieve human-friendly and sustainable ecosystems.” LSI is available
for consultation in ultra-green building technologies and facilitation
of their practical use in cohousing communities for older adults through
its BuildingCircles Project. LSI is also building an
advisory board, fundraising, and developing collaborative relationships
with other island groups and individuals.
BuildingCircles Project is
a second project by LifeSense Institute to facilitate the
emergence of adult co-housing communities that are affordable, ultra-green,
and nature-integrated. Laura explained, “A good number of people
I’ve talked with on Vashon like the idea of developing intentional adult
communities for support as they get older. They’re just not doing
anything about it yet.” Worth continued, “Our role is to facilitate
people coming together to define goals and act on them cooperatively. A
few neighbors may just wish to create small mutual support systems for
things like cooperative grocery shopping.” Bornn explained further,
“Some people may want to collaborate with each other on more ambitious
structural improvements like access ramps or raised beds for gardening.
Ultimately, the company will facilitate very comprehensive communities
for independent living that are ultra-energy efficient, low-maintenance,
affordable, and integrated into nature in a way that preserves our island’s
rural character. It just takes motivated people and community support.”
You can join Robert and Laura at Cafe
Luna on June 1st from 6:30-9:00 PM for music and other performances in
a fundraising celebration of LifeSense Institute and Project
Solar Harvest. Contact them at www.buildingcircles.org
or robert@buildingcircles.org or laura@buildingcircles.org.
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