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Published: 08 February 2013 08 February 2013

SILVER CITY – Habitat for Humanity Gila Region has scheduled two new workshops on do-it-yourself, passive-solar design.

The next workshop will teach participants how to design, construct and install a passive solar hot water heater using salvaged hot water tanks.  Participants will help remove pressure tanks from inside salvaged conventional hot water heaters, prepare the tanks for re-use, mount them inside an insulated box, and learn the basics of plumbing them for stand-alone use or integration into a home's hot water supply.  The class will take place at the Re-Store Saturday, February 23, 1:30 – 4:30, after the ReStore is closed.
 
Another workshop will teach how to design, build and install a hot-air panel to provide free heat to a building.  This workshop will teach the concepts of passive solar design, demonstrate how to build a panel similar to the one recently installed at the ReStore, then will take the participants through the ReStore yard to brainstorm other designs using the variety of materials available there.  This workshop will take place Saturday, March 2, 1:30 – 4: 30, after the ReStore is closed.
 
Both classes will be taught by Asher Gelbart of Green Energy Now.  (More information at https://sites.google.com/site/ashergen/home/workshops.)  The fee for either class is $5 – 20, sliding scale, determined by each participant.  Registration is limited to 20 participants at each class.  For more information or to register, call the Habitat for Humanity office at 575-538-9540.

The first Hot Air Panel workshop, last Saturday, was filled with a waiting list of 15, and these next classes are each already 1/3 filled.  Feedback included “Excellent,”  “Great explanations,”  “made it very easy to understand,” “More than met my expectations,” and “I will apply this knowledge!”