SOLAQUA: Sundog Solar
by Ross Rice
...The idea that you could be gathering sunlight and storing it as hydrogen, and you own it; you’re the power producer—it’s terrifying to them! It’s inevitable, and it’s what they don’t want to have happen.”
Don’t count on their stopping Jody. Slowly, but inexorably, the grand plan that is Solaqua moves forward. The goal of having it in full swing in 2009 is achievable. The town of Chatham fully embraces the project, unlike recent and upcoming potential development projects in Rosendale, Pine Plains, and Belleayre. The community concept over subdivision appeals to all involved, and Solaqua executive director Cherie Miller Schwartz will be presenting a plan before the Chatham town planning board this summer concentrating on plans for renovating warehouses on either end of the mill property, around 9,000 square feet of space to be utilized for events and the creation of the foundry. A $50,000 grant from the USDA is earmarked for powering one of the buildings. It’s painstaking, but little by little, real progress is made.
After leaving the future Solaqua complex, I have to admit: OK, I was a little disappointed at first to see that the grand Solaqua plan still had a ways to go. But I’m impressed with Jody’s determination and long-range planning. This site has great potential, and here is a group of people with an amazing vision: a place where people who create things of human and artistic value can flourish in an eco-friendly environment, without buying and selling into the non-sustainable lifestyle constantly being foisted on the unsuspecting public by the energy industries. When Jody Rael points it out, I can see it: the restaurant/brew pub, the outdoor plaza, the theater, the shops, the hydrogen hot foundry with smiths and glass-blowers, the potential community being offered, certainly unlike any community ever even considered these days. I see it very clearly, thank you. . . and yes, I support this idea. Why not? Well, you gotta start somewhere. You got a better idea? www.solaqua.net
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