Deb Hurt, ABR, e-Pro,Green, TRC

According to the New Mexico Business Weekly, El Paso Electric has signed an agreement to buy all the electricity from a concentrating solar power plant to be built in southern New Mexico by NRG Energy Inc.

The plant, to be built on a 450-acre site in Sunland Park, about 10 miles from El Paso, will produce 92 megawatts of electricity. It will be the first commercial-scale solar thermal project in New Mexico. It is hoped that the construction of the power plant will be completed by the summer of 2011.

Concentrating solar power plants use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that convert it to heat. The heat can then be used to produce steam to drive a turbine and produce electricity.

This project will help realize renewable energy potential here. We have an average of 300 days of sun every year and this is an efficient way to harness that solar energy.

Lest anyone think that this is new or untried technology, here is an excerpt from a document published by the US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Solar Energies Technologies Program:

Two large-scale power tower demonstration projects have been deployed in the United States. During its operation from 1982 to 1988, the 10-megawatt Solar One plant near Barstow, California, demonstrated the viability of power towers, producing more than 38 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The Solar Two plant was a retrofit of Solar One to demonstrate the advantages of molten salt for heat transfer and thermal storage. Using its highly efficient molten-salt energy storage system, Solar Two successfully demonstrated efficient collection of solar energy and dispatch of electricity. It also demonstrated the ability to routinely produce electricity during cloudy weather and at night. In one demonstration, Solar Two delivered power to the grid for 24 hours a day for almost seven consecutive days before cloudy weather interrupted operation.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message grew into a global movement Fifty million people turned off their lights to show their support for sustainablility. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

On March 28, at 8:30 pm local time, one billion people will go dark for Earth Hour. World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions. 1,760 cities, towns and municipalities in 80 countries have already committed to turning off the lights for Earth Hour 2009.

Hundreds of icons and landmarks around the world have signed up to turn their lights off for Earth Hour 2009 including - the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sydney Opera House, Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens and The London Eye, among many others.

Here are some suggestions of ways to spend Earth Hour and reduce your carbon footprint:

1. Attend a local Earth Hour event or organize your own by throwing an Earth Hour street party with your neighbors
2. Gather family & friends for a night picnic in your local park and look at the stars
3. Enjoy a family dinner by candlelight
4. Organisz a treasure hunt in the dark
5. Take the dog for a night walk
6. Have a candle-lit bath
7. Sit in the dark and share stories
8. Organize a family night playing games
9. Share a romantic night in with your loved one

To quote from the Earth Hour information page, " Families with young children should feel free to turn their lights off earlier than 8:30pm and for those having too much fun in the dark during the hour, don't feel you have to limit yourself to one hour and switch back on at 9:30pm."

To find out more about Earth Hour, visit the official website www.earthhour.org, sign up and join millions of people in more than 1,400 cities and towns in 80 countries throughout the world by turning off your lights for one hour at 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March.

I particularly like the first two sugestions. Since we have so much great dark sky here in New Mexico some of us may want to combine those two activities. If you know someone with a telescope ask them about a Star Party for the Messier Marathon. Charles Messier was an 18th century comet seeker. To aid his exploration, he assembled a list of objects in the sky that appeared to be comets but were not. There are 110 Messier objects numbered from M1 to M110. The link will take you to the website of TAAS -The Albuquerque Astronomical Society and more information including a list of the Messier Objects.

I had a closing last week. I got a commission check on Thursday and ran right to the bank to deposit it. I wrote checks to my creditors but the first two checks were to a commitment I made for this year. I donate one per cent of every commission check to my local public radio station because I believe that public radio is an important source of music, news and information about various points of view that are not commonly available through other sources. Whether I necessarily like or agree with all of them is not the point. The point is that they should be freely available so that people can hear a diversity of opinion, news,music ,and drama.

The other check was for another one percent to THE HOUSE THAT ACTIVE RAIN BUILT for the MAKE IT RIGHT NOLA Foundation. Whatever your commission, 1% to help enrich someone else's life will be enhanced and multiplied when it is joined with the funds of others. It is not enough for you to miss it in the larger scheme of things but it can make a huge difference. Mu counter shows almost 137,000 Active rain members. A Make It Righthouse only costs $150,000. The House That Active Rain Built has $153.00 in donations so far.....even one dollar will help. Donations of five dollars or more can be made online. Donations of less than five dollars must be mailed but all you have to do is put a note i the envelope saying that the donation is for the House that Active Rain Built and it will be credited to our house.

Here are just some of the events coming up in the near futureto help you learn about gardening here in the Land of Enchantment.

• Friends of Rio Grande Community Farm are hosting work days at the farm over the next several weeks and volunteers are needed. Come out and contribute your time to assist with the development of a state of the art agricultural project designed to increase local food production for APS and beyond. Volunteers are particularly needed this Friday 1-5pm and Saturday 8:30 - 5pm (Feb 20 and 21). All volunteers are appreciated and greatly needed! For more information contact Minor Morgan at (505) 379-1640.

• High Value Fruit Production for Small Acreage, the last session of the Urban Farming Series conducted by the Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension will be held on February 21^st from 9-4pm at the Historic Hubbell House in the South Valley of Albuquerque. A $10 lunch/workshop fee applies. For more information contact Jeff Bader at (505) 243-1386.

• Come out to Community Garden Seed Exchange on Sunday, February 22, from 12-4pm at the South Valley Economic Development Center located at 318 Isleta Blvd. SW in Albuquerque, just south of Bridge. "Bring the seeds you have to share, take the seeds you need to grow! Come have some fun with the whole family!" For more information please contact Heather Rowley at heather_rowley@hotmail.com or Tim Nisly at timn@svedc.org (see flier attached)

• Cold Frame Workshop- Learn how to start you plants early!! This event is scheduled for Saturday, February 28 at 1pm. The workshop is hosted by Project Renaissance and will take place at Dragon Farm, 3416 Blake Rd. SW. Master Gardener Ron Jobe will direct the workshop. $5.00 Donation Appreciated. For more information contact Richard Brandt at rembrandtrocks@yahoo.com

• 2009 NM Organic Farming Conference will be held on February 27^th and 28^th in sunny Las Cruces. For more information, contact Farm to Table at (505) 473-1004 or ladams@cybermesa.com

• 2009 International Xeriscape Conference and Expo will be held on February 26^th and 27^th at the Marriot Pyramid Hotel. The sub-topic of this event is Watershed-Foodshed. The conference will be followed by a two-day Expo at the NM fairgrounds on February 28^th and March 1^st. For more information contact the Xeriscape Council of NM at (505) 468-1021

• Creating an Urban Food Forest, a free workshop will take place on March 22, 12-4pm at Sanchez Farm Open Space in the South Valley of Albuquerque. The hands-on workshop will be led by Jen Prosser, a practicing herbalist, farmer, permaculturist and owner of Sunstone Herbs. For more information, or to RSVP contact Colleen Langan at calangan@bernco.gov