Donna L. Hill Powell's Groups
Donna L. Hill Powell's Page
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- Are you interested in becoming an organizer in your area?
- Yes
- Tell us about your experience with alternative energy:
- It's been on my mind day and night for years, drawing and writing in mid of night, have so many ideas of how to better our situations and more questions.
- What excites you about this campaign?
- Making use of resources we've been given and doing it well with no negative impact on our planet.
- What do you want to do to help?
- I've been talking it up for years..wish to bounce my ideas off some well trained brains and find a place where can be a useful help.
Donna L. Hill Powell's Blog
What we should do First, Second, Third....
At 4:35pm on September 8th, 2008, Donna L. Hill Powell said…
By all means network, network, network as much as possible. There are too many viable means for us to be self sustainable and could provide a means for us all to survive. We've got to agree and get as many as possible on board.
One thing Tom Zellar and I've been working on is finding out which way the reps have been voting for or against the tax credits for alternative energy and with your contacts you could also raise that roof a bit… Continue
By all means network, network, network as much as possible. There are too many viable means for us to be self sustainable and could provide a means for us all to survive. We've got to agree and get as many as possible on board.
One thing Tom Zellar and I've been working on is finding out which way the reps have been voting for or against the tax credits for alternative energy and with your contacts you could also raise that roof a bit… Continue
Posted on September 9, 2008 at 5:30pm — 10 Comments
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Sorry it took me so long to get back to you with an acknowledgement of receiving your suggestion. Thank you for that.
Progress on the development of the project is gradually moving forward. I am getting a lot of help from my "Sounding Board" (mentioned in my earlier comment) that I was able to assemble from my network of friends met here on PP.
When I get down the road a bit further into the R&D I'll shoot you off an update.
Have a wonderful holiday season Donna!
Monte
It was such a pleasure and surprise to see your comment on my page. I was beginning to think that perhaps I had offended you at some point along the way. But I also realize that you had quite a time of it in the aftermath of Ike.
Donna, the proposal in the comment you responded to is indeed very very broad. It was intended to be. I wanted to put the broad notion out there and see if the notion, in this broad sense, would attract any interest. And, to both my surprise and delight, it did attract much more interest than I ever thought it would.
While I have no desire to nor am I attempting to reinvent the wheel, I do possibly have some new (actually resurrected) ways to use it. Donna, at this point I am still in the very early stages of developmental creativity on this project and all details and ideas are in flux. As I have noted, I have promoted this idea/intention of mine to a number of my friends that I have made on PP and more than I expected have expressed interest beyond the casual in the idea as well as have asked questions and, like yourself, pointed out various items for me to consider. The questions and indications that I am getting thus far are of an immense help to me as they get me to confront fundamental points of establishment that I might not otherwise look at. I'm a dreamer and I know that I can get a bit too optimistic and unrealistic at times (that is; as long as I don't listen to too much news). Being aware of this Achilles heel of mine, I have been putting together a sounding board made up of my PP friends that possess varying and multiple expertise and represent a widely diversified geographical local. I see the sounding board as a precursor to an inevitable advisory board and it is something that is most helpful to me although I hope that all who are participating do benefit individually from the process as well.
I would be thrilled Donna if you would consider joining the other members of my sounding board. I promise to not overwhelm you with material and if I start to then you could just tell me to back off a bit. You would, of course, not be obligated nor would I expect you to respond to everything that I send you. Basically, I want to let all who are part of my sounding board inside my head as I progress through the creative process of this endeavor and give you each advance permission to nudge me, direct my attention and otherwise influence me as you see necessary. Of course, that doesn't mean that I won't stay true to my own goals and purposes or that I will compromise my personal integrity but I do realize most acutely that I have many blind spots, I also at times get somewhat fixated on points and I certainly do not know all that I need to know to come even close to pulling this off. This project is definitely a team project.
As odd as this may sound Donna, the initial drive/purpose behind this intention/idea of mine is not the increasing of my, or the investors, monetary wealth but it certainly is not about losing money or giving money away or any thing like that either. Instead, the primary impetus behind this is to...through the building of Green and Healthy homes, instigate and impel a shift in lifestyle i.e., going from a lifestyle of wanton consumption without regard for one's impact on their social, physical, external,internal and future environment to a lifestyle where one has an elevated consciousness regarding their intimate relationship with all that is and their lifestyle reflects that state of enlightenment. I see the building of green and healthy homes as a viable vehicle to assist in this transitional journey from one lifestyle to another. BUT, here's the 64 thousand dollar question...will enough others see the same thing, at least enough to get the vehicle moving? Once it's moving then good marketing and promotion campaigns can attract others into the activity. The more who get involved in this the more impact it will have. And, down the road a ways, after all the bugs have been worked out and the vehicle is running smooth...then the monetary ROI will both accelerate and expand as will the scope of Green projects that are taken on.
Here is my off PP email: mfs01@mynewroads.com my comment below and what I have written here is all that I am saying about the project on this site.
May we always desire to play a better game and create a better tomorrow (for everyone!).
Monte
I apologize in advance for blogging on your comment wall.
Donna, on the 10th of November a friend of mine on the PP site, Iain McKennon, left me a comment on my wall. Within his comment Iain said, "My approach to Pickens at this point in time is to think globally and act locally." Unbeknownst to me at the time that particular comment of Iain's firmly lodged in my mind and has ever since been gradually working its way into a position of being an influential element in my creativity regarding Green solutions.
Speaking of friends, an old friend of mine used to tell me that the road to attaining an affluence (in anything) was to go with what one knew not new things that were as of yet untried. While I am sure that there are exceptions to this rule, I do believe that empirically, my friend's advice can be seen to be immensely more true than not.
So, here I am at a juncture in my life where I want to play an effective role in environmental repair, in preventive envirionmental health and overall be an active participant in a Green solution. Therefore, in listening to a couple of friends, it occurred to me that I can probably have a greater and more effective impact by concentrating my creativity and production on a local/regional target than doing otherwise. I also recognize that acting along the lines of what I already have personal experience with and/or incorporating a familiar reality in what I do is a strong plus in anything I set out to accomplish. And, I know that while acting locally it is critical that I continue to be thinking globally.
HERE IS A SEED I AM PLANTING
I want to share this seed with you Donna because it just might be a seed that you too would want to plant where you are residing.
What I am going to do is form a corporation that is a Green construction company, an investment club, an online social community, a market research company, a research and development company, a documentation and educational video production company and an online course in the ways and means of how to build green. There's even more but those are all the top liners.
What will this company do (broad generalities only):
It will begin by doing infill development i.e., in Fort Smith, AR where I live there is an abundance of vacant properties within the city limits that can be purchased whereupon new dwellings (single family, duplexes, three and four-plexes) can be built. Currently there are not any builders in this area that are interested in building on these properties. Instead the local builders have their attention on building in whatever new subdivision is being developed.
The company will target these inner city vacant properties to purchase and construct new dwellings suitable and appropriate to the neighborhoods where they are located. The dwellings will be aesthetic, have high curb appeal, in most cases be small ( 800 sq ft. - 1,500 sq ft.) as the lots are small, will be built to endure, will be practical, will enhance the neighborhood, indeed the city, and...will be constructed with viable GREEN technologies.
Each dwelling built by this company will be model of green construction and green technologies utilized in home building.
The company, in the process of building green homes, will also serve as a vehicle to introduce, educate and enlighten a broad base of investors in numerous cutting edge green technologies that have to do with the home and beyond.
The company will circumvent the need for borrowing capital by opening up investment (per project) to the general public (local, national or international).
Participation in this company will be made very simple and inclusive. For example: The range of investment accepted will go from as low as $10 to as high as, but not exceeding, 5 percent of a project's total cost. Therefore, the lowest number of investors that could ever be possible on any project would be 20. Investments will be done by project.
Every project will be audio/video documented from beginning to end. The video documentation will be made available to any investor who has invested in the project. Also, when the completed dwelling is sold the buyer will receive a copy of the entire video documentation of their new green home from planning to completion.
Of course, all investors will be able to follow the progress of each project that they have invested in online and interact with the project. There will be web cams at each job site, weekly reports will be online by the project mgr. including detailed photos and anecdotes and detailed weekly expenditures. And, any and all tech used in the building of the project will be thoroughly explained as it is incorporated. I guess you could say that this aspect of the company is like doing an in-house Better Homes and Gardens type of production. Who knows...perhaps it could even become a series for PBS.
The entire operation process of the company will be transparent.
Nothing is done unless the money to pay for it is immediately available. Nothing is bought on credit.
All personnel who are involved in anyway with a project of the company or the company itself are a member/investor of the company. The exception to this would be anyone employed by the government eg., builidng inspectors, city planners, etc.
This is not a volunteer based company. Those who deliver a product and/or service for the company will be paid for the product/service just as they are always paid for their services rendered.
All frontline and backline costs are factored into the overall cost of a project. The video production and the online access availability are atypical expenses to a construction project. However, these elements are critical to the purpose and operation of the company so they will become a typical expense included in the budget of each project carried out by this company. The company's motto: Purpose - Product - Profit (listed in relative order of importance).
At this stage in the creative process everything is subject to modification.
Okay, Donna. There's the seed I'm planting in very broad and general terms. I'm sure you will see and extrapolate all the possibilities and potential of such a company. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have or comment as you wish. I am totally willing to share any of this project and how it progresses with anyone. In my opinion, if we had myriad of these companies in active operation we could all only benefit by such a circumstance.
If you would like to be a sounding board or otherwise participate in the ongoing development of this company just let me know by emailing me at mfs01@mynewroads.com
I have helped to construct many dwellings of many different sizes over the last 35 years but I have never constructed a house that totally utilizes green technologies. There will obviously be a learning curve to overcome and I will have to recruit those who have this expertise from numerous areas including the PP site. Access to green expertise does not seem to be all that available locally.
Monte
There are as many opinions about safe AC EMF levels as there are electrical aficionados, if you believe Tesla AC is safe at any level, but if you believe Edison AC is not safe at any level.
Experience has taught me that Edison was closer to right!
AC current can jump 1 inch for every 10,000 volts, but EMF waves can travel ad infinitum.
There are many variables in the calculation for strength of an electromagnetic field; it is an exponential equation that falls off rapidly with distance.
So, the farther away from power lines the better.
What we found to be more important than distance is the orientation of building surfaces, plus the conductivity of building materials and soil types in contact with the foundation, so you should never house any living thing in a building built on swampy ground with a metal roof running parallel to the power line. In such a case, no distance achievable in an urban setting would be sufficient.
In the best case scenario, fifty feet should be sufficient, as long as no building surfaces are facing the line directly.
Sorry that I don't have better news, but I hope this helps.
If you want further recommendations, just tell me everything you can about what you are dealing with there. I would be happy to help.
It's time. It's time for you to come and look at the elephant. The Elephant is in the room. You'll see...
Your degree of creativity and volume of ideas are needed to help build this elephant.
Monte
Kathy Lee
Welcome back. When you get caught up give me a holler.
Monte
Please checkout this website, as this is a Sun, Heat and Wind energy system in one, please give us your feedback as we try to improve it.
www.solarbotanic.com
Looking forward to hear from you
Alex
I hope all is well for you in Houston.
more in a bit -- jeff
When you manage to get back online I would like to hear from you and about how you faired the storm. I hope it wasn't too bad.
Your friend up in Arkansas,
Monte
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