Crestone Solar School, located in Crestone, CO, was founded by Paul Shippee in 2005. Crestone was a natural choice of location, as passive solar homes and alternative building techniques are popular in this area. Paul has been teaching and training people in solar applications for more than 30 years.
With a degree in Civil Engineering, Paul is an award-winning solar designer, engineer, consultant and builder. He has designed and built every kind of passive solar home and installed many active solar heating systems in Boulder, Larimer, Chaffee and Saguache Counties (Colorado) over the years. Paul's approach to solar applications is holistic and includes a bright awareness of energy conservation in the whole solar home design.
With a degree in Civil Engineering, Paul is an award-winning solar designer, engineer, consultant and builder. He has designed and built every kind of passive solar home and installed many active solar heating systems in Boulder, Larimer, Chaffee and Saguache Counties (Colorado) over the years. Paul's approach to solar applications is holistic and includes a bright awareness of energy conservation in the whole solar home design.
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Paul Shippee, Director of the Crestone Solar School, has been designing solar and natural buildings since 1974, based first in Boulder, CO, and later in Crestone, CO (see a few of his projects here). Paul consults with home owner-builders on high-performance passive solar home designs that integrate a simple drain-back solar system for domestic hot water (see a simple solar drain-back design here).
Crestone is a hub of solar and alternative building activity. Crestone Solar School itself is based in a 100% passive solar building, serving as an educational laboratory for its Solar Building Workshops. We have been leading solar home tours in Crestone for many years, both for individuals and groups (including for the annual Crestone Energy Fair) and as part of Solar Building Workshop series.
The seven solar thermal collectors (hot water) on the author's home provide domestic hot water and radiant (adobe) floor heating. We live in a climate perfectly suited for solar heating of homes: cold winters with lots of sunshine. Yet most of us, including new homes, still use propane or electric for home heating and hot water needs.
I was talking with my friend Gordon the other day, a man who installed four solar hot water collectors at his house to provide heat for these three loads: radiant floor, domestic hot water and hot tub heating. He had asked me for some advice on the design layout and was now just going through his first winter.
Using "today's sun today" for home heating is an alternative to using up the last hours of ancient sunlight - also known as fossil fuels. These fuels -coal, oil, and gas- are reaching their end-times due to pollution, climate change, peak oil, security risks, and rising prices. Cheap fuel will become a relic of our high growth industrial age.
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