Upcoming
Appearances
none scheduled currently...
Contact me if you want to book me to lecture at your school, business, housing association, or club!
In the News/Events
June - 2024 MyView submitted - PNM is holding Grid Modernization Hostage -
I've been a ProSe Intervener against PNM's GridMod Plan since I first read it in Oct.2022 because they are holding Grid Mod Hostage in their "war on privately owned Solar". The Plan outlined uses the first $200M and two of six years of the proposed revenue request of $344M to remove/replace all 500,000+ still functional meters with "Advanced Meters" and related infrastructure to modernize their Billing system.... this is not Grid Mod, it is imprudent investment for the benefit of PNM that does not benefit Ratepayers at all.
We need to encourage the PRC to deny this rate request, and work with Legislators to require much needed Grid Mod projects to start ASAP to enable more customer-owned Solar to contribute to the Grid to meet growing demand as we Electrify our homes, workplaces and transportation.
Feb. 23rd - 2023 EVs at the Roundhouse - Climate Day
April 8th - 2014 'Better Living with an EV' Podcast on KVSF 101.5 -
I was interviewed on the Tuesday morning show 'Doing Business Better' by Glenn Schiffbauer. We talked about the benefits of EVs, both environmentally and financially... and then got into the additional benefits of powering an EV with your own PV system rather than utility power. I am now selling PV systems for Consolidated Solar Technology (CST), and would love to talk to individuals or groups about EV conversion, or individual/business owned PV installations to power them!
April 6th - 2014 Journey Lecture Series at Collected Works -
A free lecture to the public, talking about EVs and the need to grow Distributed Generation (DG) of PhotoVoltaics (PV) to enhance local sustainability in the energy and transportation sectors.
March 24th - 2014 ClimateMasters Lecture Series -
Gave a presentation as part of the Santa Fe Climate Masters lecture series presented by the Watershed Association. Tim Rodgers gave one on bicycle commuting, and we had a city Rep. talking about the mass transit solutions before I talked about EVs and the need to grow distributed Generation of PV along with everything else.
Oct. 8th - 2013 Podcast on KVSF 101.5 -
I was interviewed on the Tuesday morning show 'Doing Business Better' by Glenn Schiffbauer. It was a real blast, and I'm hoping this might help get the word out that I'm open for business with conversions.
April 26, 27, 28 - 2013 SolarFiesta at SFCC -
I'll have Zappy the electric Swift out at SFCC for all the festivities friday thru sunday, AND will be bringing the electric Miata Saturday afternoon for show and tell while I give a little presentation on how to create an LLC for third-party funding of PV for non-profits. If you are interested in rental/Lease/purchase of a DIY EV, this would be a great time to see what I have available and get on list for test drives, etc.
Feb 6th, 2013. Attending the 'Electric Race Car' presentation by Santa Fe High students. I'm on the advisory board for the project, had a little input in the initial scoping/design of the project, and get to go see what they've come up with. The initial race car is designed for an EV version of the soap box derby; lots of rules, and is not a street vehicle. The NEXT phase of the program I will be more involved as they are considering a 'real' car conversion... The event was written up in the Santa fe New Mexican, front page !
Oct 18th, 2012. The Santa Fe New Mexican covered the ribbon cutting of the 'Member Investor' funded PV install I put together as a Consultant at Sand River Co-Housing (formerly Elder Grace). The article outlined the basic concept, which was to put together a small LLC and do a lease-back of the equipment so its a win-win for the community and member investors. They PLAN to do a car share program as well, with several of them to be electric, so I may get in on that too!
Sept 27th, 2012. Couldn't stand the disingenuous articles PNM was putting in the paper any more. I had to whip out a Letter to the Editor in the Santa fe New Mexican pleading for people to contact their PRC representatives to represent US better by stopping PNMs efforts to cut the REC for distributed PV, and attempts to collect capital cost recovery from NM ratepayers for huge (un-needed) power lines for utility-owned systems intending to sell sunshine out of state.
Sept 18th, 2012. 8:30-11am at 'the market' - Eldorado Community group is hosting a Fest for PV, EV, and other green things... I'll bring Zappy, and other local EVs will be there too!
Sept 23th, 2012. 10-5p at 'St. Mikes Village' - Local PV installers, Bike Advocacy groups, local EVers will all be gathering at the 'ReMike' event to share info about sustainable living and transportation. There is a ton of other stuff going onthere all weekend. visit http://remikeable.com/ for more info.
June 24th, 2012 - Attended a little 'SolarFest' at Positive Energy's new office with their new solar powered charging station with the other local EV guys.... Got newspaper coverage in the Journal North .
June 20th, 2012 - Guest Lectured to the young inventors in the Big Sky Learning summer camp. I am hoping one of them, or a family member, will want to build one of their own!
March 12th, 2012 - Guest Lecture a session for the SFCC class - ALTF 111 – Alt Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies.
Feb 16th, 2012 - Guest Lectured 2 hours for all the 5th and 6th grade classes at Wood-Gormley Elementary. These kids really get the basics, are concerned about the Enviornment, and are ENTHUSIASTIC! We spent about 45 minutes in the Gym talking through basic 'electricity/energy' concepts, and the rest of the time cycling groups of 20 or so kids at once crawling all over the car and explaining everything....
Nov 30th, 2011 - Guest Lecture to group of students and sponsors at Santa Fe High School that are going to be designing and building a vehicle for competition in the high school 'Electrathon' race series. They have some awesome body shop and welding skills at SFHS, some grant money, local sponsors, and just need a kick start understanding options for EV design considerations based on what class they choose to compete in.
Oct 12th, 2011 9:30am-11:30am - Guest Lecture a 2 hour session for the SFCC class - ALTF 111 – Alt Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies.
March 24, 2011 - Guest Lecture 1 hour for a 4th grade class at Wood-Gormley Elementary. A little young, but they get the basics and are ENTHUSIASTIC! Spent a half hour talking through basic 'electricity/energy' concepts, and a solid half hour crawling all over the car and explaining everything to a very interested class....
March 1, 2011 - Guest Lectured a 2 hour class for the SFCC class - ALTF 111 – Alt Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies. Spent about an hour and a half talking through the design considerations, and a solid half hour crawling all over the car and explaining everything to a very interested class of 15 or so people.
Oct. 24,2010 - Show'n'tell for Zappy at the 'Lead your Revolution' fundraiser while I do their bike ride. This is a great group to build personal motivation and DO SOMETHING to be a little greener...
Oct. 24,2010 - Show'n'tell for Zappy at the 'In Our Own Backyard' 350.org Event at Elder Grace Senior CoHousing Community, 3466 Cerrillos Rd. They are showing some PV, Gardening, Water harvesting, composting, plan to do a community car-share, and more...
Oct. 4th, 2010 - Guest Lectured a 2 hour class for the SFCC class - ALTF 111 – Alt Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technologies. Spent about an hour and a half talking through the design considerations, and a solid half hour crawling all over the car and explaining everything to a very interested class of 15 or so people.
Oct. 2nd,2010 - Participated in the Santa Fe Solar Home Tour. Showed the PV to EV connection and did show n tell to whomever came on the Tour...
7/13/2009 - Did a little show and tell at a Children's Summer Camp... video footage is really fun!
7/4/2009 - Won 'Best of Class' for Special Interest autos in the Santa Fe Vintage Auto Club car show.
4/25/2009 - Recipient of the 2008 'Sustainable Transportation Project of the Year' award from the city of Santa Fe. There is a nice little article on the City Website.
2/16/2009 - Charging Ahead with Energy Independance, in The Santa Fe New Mexican
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This site will be a growing collection of 'green' project information intended to help the average person make a difference... One household at a time. Topics include: Rate Rider case 22-00058-ut, PNM's 'Grid Mod Plan', is still in progress (June 2024) at the PRC currently.... PNM is asking for $335 MILLION Dollars of Revenue to be collected as a rate 'Rider' on our Bills over the next 6 years to pay for Grid Modernization; which sounds ok at first, but turns out PNM wants to start with about $200M spent to replace all Residential and Small Commercial meters with 'smart meters' to modernize their Billing system and design new Rate Classes rather than Modernize the Grid in ways to handle more customer owned Solar power co-generation which is needed to contribute to growing demand for true Grid Modernization and de-carbonization. I joined the case Jan.2023 as an Intervener Pro Se (as an individual) to try to prevent what I see as 'Imprudent Investment' in smart meters which do nothing to increase Grid Capacity or Reliability in our transition to Renewable Energy. Being involved with a Case at the PRC as an Individual has turned out to be a significant investment of my time to read and prepare Testimony, Briefs, and 8 days of Zoom Hearings....
(update 6/29/24) The case is now in the hands of the Commissioners, and there should be a ruling in July 2024.
I have decided to ask for public support in the form of 'Gift' donations to help pay for the time I have spent on the Case (several hundred hours)... Whatever $ you want to PayPal to Dan@EnviroKarma.org will be much appreciated, and I will be working on a way to keep everyone informed as the Case progresses. I am NOT a 501c3, so any donations are simply Gifts, and are not tax deductible. For those of us lucky enough to live in New Mexico... The weather is good enough to bike and walk to work and school almost year 'round. The trick of course is to live close enough to make that practicable, or be willing to combine biking and walking with some other form of mass transit like bus or (if you happen to live handy) the train. For lots more information on Carbon Footprint, and why it is important, visit 350.org, and if you want to figure out what YOUR household footprint is so you can identify areas you can reduce, visit terrapass.com or carbonfootprint.com for easy calculators adding up your impact from house, transportation, and even food choices... buy local goods when you can!
Key FAQS:
My first conversion, a 1997 Suzuki Swift (Geo Metro) donor car, 
became an operational EV on 3/1/2009 with just 138 hours of labor! This site includes some general information you will need to learn more, a collection of good links, and LOTS of details in a photo gallery I built along the way.
The initial conversion cost about $6000 for all the parts, plus a 'Donor' car and batteries. This vehicle uses about $1 of electricity per 50 miles to operate. Zappy was originally built with lead-acid batteries, which lost capacity predictably after about 18 months; has has since been upgraded with $5K worth of LiFePO4 batteries which give me a 50 mile max range, better performance and yield a lower cost per mile over their expected 8-10 year life.
'Zappy' the electric car goes 2 to 3 miles per kWhr 'at the plug'. So would kick out only about .5#CO2/mile if I used PNM generated electricity (40% coal, 20% nuclear baseload generation), but with my PV system, its ZERO ! [click] to see more about how to convert your own!
My second EV is a '94 Mazda Miata 
If you have lots of sun.... install PV! It can be a challange rounding up the cash to invest, but it pays off moderately well, and feels REALLY good to watch that meter spin backward as you reduce your carbon footprint! In NM, there is a 10% tax credit, and combined with the 30% Federal tax credit this means you get a tax rebate amounting to 40% of the the initial expense the first year! The net cost of the system pays for itself over the next 8-10 years and then continues to save you money for many years after that. My contract with PNM locked me into getting REC credits for $.13/kWhr (in 2008) on top of eliminating my power bill. What it boils down to is a pretty darn good Rate of Return yeild on a 'safe' investment like a CD with the added bonus of increasing your equity in your home with an improvement that adds value by saving you money every year. Click to [see more...]  I have a couple simple things I do to conserve or re-use water. I don't go to any big efforts to collect water from my roof because the trees around my house need it! Rather than capture and store it, I have created rock-filled trenches from downspouts and Cannales to act as mini-arroyos directing roof water to trees, and shallow basins around trees to hold the water long enough to soak in. Another form of water I 'redirect' is the drainwater from my laundry in the summer. My house is on a slab, and retrofitting gray water capture would not be easy; what IS easy is to get a brass fitting and hose clamp from the hardware store that has a hose thread on one end and fits into the drain hose. Then I just run a hose out the door. Soaker hoses do not let the water drain fast enough, but drilling holes in the last 10 or 20 feet of a cheap hose and capping the end works pretty well. ...more ideas always coming! Please pardon the 'ugly' website... I literally do not have time to put a lot of time into aesthetic appeal for this site. Perhaps down the road I'll be able to come back and make it pretty, but for now; I hope you find useful information and some degree of inspiration to continue your own effort to 'be green'. - Dan Baker |
