Plateau Solar Project

For two weeks in May, ASU students and faculty members helped install solar-based, off-grid living solutions for elders in remote areas of the Leupp Chapter on the Navajo Nation. This service-learning trip, organized by ASU College of Technology and Innovation’s GlobalResolve program, was part of the Plateau Solar Project, which provides underserved Navajo communities with renewable energy, clean water, sanitation, weatherization services, and solar maintenance.

Join the principals of the project, lead faculty, and students for a discussion about trench digging, structure building, and solar installation.

Introduced by Dan O’Neill, general manager of ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives’ Sustainability Solutions Extension Service and moderated by Dr. Mark Henderson, director of GlobalResolve and professor in the College of Technology and Innovation.

Panelists:
Elsa Johnson, executive director, IINA Solutions
Mark Snyder, CEO, Mark Snyder Electric
Michael Funk, graduate student, College of Technology and Innovation
Hyejung Lim, undergraduate student, School of Sustainability

The Plateau Solar Project is a joint initiative of IINA Solutions, a Navajo nonprofit, and Mark Snyder Electric.

Monday, September 24, 2012
12:00 -- 1:30 p.m.
(lunch will be provided)
Wrigley Hall, Room 481
Arizona State University, Tempe campus

February 9, 2012

Re: Bringing Electricity to an Indian Hogan by Henry Percy

My name is Mark Snyder. I am the inventor of the EMPUS™, (patent pending), structure and I installed the unit at Paula Curtis’ residence. I am a Master Electrician and a builder and have licensed nationally doing projects from coast to coast and in Iraq. I have noted that you have developed your blog entirely from your perspective sitting in the comfort of your home in Michigan. No doubt with electricity, water and sanitation. (more…)

Progressive Radio Network’s The Burt Cohen Show is a weekly radio show that tackles a wide range of today’s social, economic, and political issues. With hard-hitting questions and a keen understanding of our planet’s interconnecting social and economic fabric, Burt reveals the hidden truths behind the stories that affect us all and giving you the information you need to build freedom, community, and a much better world.

Las Vegas and much of Southwestern US is lit up by dirty coal from Navajo Nation. Yet many of the impoverished people there lack electricity or water. Guest on this show is Elsa Johnson, a Navajo environmentalist and human right advocate who talks about recent successes they’ve had taking on Big Coal and uranium which have done such harm to the health of that nation. They’re looking to the sun for a brighter economic and cultural future.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

LEUPP – Five rural Navajo elders will receive solar electricity to light up their homes by the first part of the new year with the help of Plateau Solar Project, an entity designed to bring electricity, water and sanitation to under-served and disabled elders.

The five are among nearly 40 low-income or no-income applicants who have qualified so far for a 2-kilowatt solar system funded through USDA Rural Development grants. Last year, 78 grant applications were submitted to USDA by Plateau Solar Project, established by non-profit IINA Solutions and Mark Snyder Electric as a “clean energy solution” for Indian Country. (more…)