Community
I have always believed that when a community is involved in planning its own development and future the final product is superior and embraced. I devoted countless hours to community organizations and projects that match my passion for renewable energy, agriculture, and wastewater reuse. Below are several of the community planning projects in which I was a key player and helped nurture with my free time.
2024-2026 Power Mule Project
This CSMG project is currently raising funds to build a mobile emergency response microgrid. I provided the preliminary design concept. The Power Mule will have a 10.5KW folding solar array that auto deploys and retracts mediated by an anemometer's wind speed signal. It will also have a 72kWh BESS, two 25 KW EV fast chargers, and a 7 KW propane backup generator. Ten mechatronics engineering students from the University of North Carolina Asheville will assist with final engineering and fabrication. The finished unit will be donated to a local volunteer fire station.
https://www.spotfund.com/story/18ab32b1-d1b4-4beb-9594-e573dfe08d38?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&value=power+mule
2020-2026 The Critical Services Microgrid Group
Co-founder of the Critical Services Microgrid Group an AD HOC, intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and intercollegiate NETWORK of professionals, businesses, and students. We aim to be a catalyst for networking, preparedness, innovation, and Microgrid market formation. Since 2020, CSMG principals have provided pro-bono technical advisory services to non-profits and local governments in Western North Carolina.
https://www.avl-microgrids.com/https://youtu.be/JAw2tPxxs2U
2007–2012 Virgin Islands Farmers' Cooperative (VIFC)
I served as the VIFC's secretary and grants writer for five years. In that time I wrote and won two major grants for the organization. The first was the Small Minority Producers grant from USDA ($179K). The second was a Conservation Innovations grant from USDA ($75K). The first grant funded the analysis and business plan development for three parcels of land totaling 750 acres and a farmers market all under cooperative management. The second grant was for a combined compost and biochar production operation also under VIFC management. I donated GIS mapping and master planning services for the redevelopment of the 500-acre Windsor Dairy Farm into an Agro-Tourism facility and two additional pieces of property that would be used for food and forage crop production.
2001–2006 Community Organizer – Natural Wastewater Treatment System for St. Croix
During the time I was employed by Caribbean Infra-Tech & Sustainable Systems & Design Int. I began an unfunded community organizing effort to build support for utilizing a natural wastewater treatment system to treat and reclaim, for agricultural & golf course irrigation, St. Croix's 2MGD of wastewater that was being discharged to the sea with only primary treatment. Over a five year organizing effort I was able to build a coalition of 16 community groups supporting the natural treatment system approach that included the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix Environmental Association, St. Croix Foundation, St. Croix Board of Realtors, St. Croix Restaurant Association, and many others. The community coalition was in support of a plan for a $20M natural treatment system while the Waste Water Management Authority (WMMA) supported the plan for a $56M conventional sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The five year battle over which system would be installed ended in an unsuccessful court challenge to stop construction of the SBR.
2000–2006 Secretary, St. Croix Farmers In Action
As the secretary of the St. Croix Farmers in Action I worked primarily on producing the media campaign for the acquisition and redevelopment of the Bethlehem Sugar Factory. The factory was originally built in the early 1900's and operated on St. Croix until 1964. The site was completely overgrown by 2000 when we began by enlisting students, seeking community service credits, and volunteers with machetes and chain saws to uncover the site's remaining structures from the bush. After two years of weekend work days the site finally emerged from the forest. I wrote and won a grant from the Virgin Island Council of the arts to shoot and produce a film about the sugar factory's history and its proposed redevelopment into an agro-tourism attraction. The film and the many media presentations and materials I developed helped the project gain government support and funding for the initial phase of its redevelopment.
https://youtu.be/JAw2tPxxs2U