Work has begun on the feasibility study! Funded by the Department of Energy, it is titled "Clean, Reliable, Affordable Energy that Reflects the Values of the Pinoleville-Pomo Nation."

We have so far done a preliminary assessment of the energy potential of several renewable sources: solar, wind, micro-hydro, biogas, biomass, and geothermal. Based on the preliminary work, we have determined that the system will be based on solar, wind, and micro-hydro energy generation. I'm very excited to keep working on this project with our trusted team of Berkeley students as well as the visiting students from KAUST!

Solar	Micro-Hydro	Wind

The engineers of the Cares4Pomo team have begun work on the renewable energy feasibilty. Read more about it here.

The Tribe were enthusiastic about the home design. Here is an image of the final physical prototype:

Julian Berg and Robert Ulibarri were also thrilled with the design from a technical standpoint, and it looks like the EPA might want to study the UCB/PPN partnership as an exemplar of sustainable housing. Go team!

You can see more images from the Final Presentation in the Gallery; just make sure to log in first!

Our visit yesterday with the Pinoleville-Pomo Tribal Council was a success..everyone there was very happy with the home design, and we received lots of great questions. The only downside is that our part of the project is done!

Some of my team mates will be posting pictures of the presentation here later on.

This is a conceptual design sketch of the proposed water system.

Click here to see a larger image of this design.

The water supply is a 20,000 or 30,000-gal storage tank downhill from the home; rain caught from the roof will be supplemented by groundwater from the well. Drinking water will be supplied by a small reverse osmosis system. A composting toilet, combined with grey water irrigation, will reduce water consumption by over 35%, while providing intensive, fertilizing irrigation.

The interim report, which summarizes the details of this system, can be downloaded below.