Sun Challenge - Sail for a Change

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Sun Challenge, sailing for solar power everywhere

John Wilson and his family will sail around the world in a solar electric catamaran sailboat to raise awareness everywhere about the most pressing issue in the world today: the urgent need to shift to renewable resources. This ambitious circumnavigation is the first component of the Sun Challenge.

Sun Challenge refers to the ability of our sun to provide all of the renewable energy resources we need. Direct solar energy from the sun can be converted into electricity with solar photovoltaic panels or heat with solar thermal panels. The sun also drives the weather patterns on earth that create wind power that can be harnessed with turbines. Sun power even drives the hydrological cycle that makes rain that drives water power. So, our challenge in moving to renewable energy resources is about finding ways to harness this free unlimited sun power.

During the circumnavigation John and family will seek out and find the very best examples of people, organizations and communities using renewable resources today. The entire journey and all of the hopeful examples of people meeting the 'sun challenge' today will be captured in a monthly 10 minute television show entitled Sun Challenge that will be distributed free of charge over the Internet. At the end of the journey, a condensed version of the 10 minute episodes will be made available as a feature documentary film.

All of the proceeds from donations will go to the Sun Challenge: Funds for Change social business which supports communities that are taking on the sun challenge today and in the future by using renewable resources.


News
Electric Engine Conversion Making the switch from gasoline to electric motor for your sailboat turns out to work exceptionally well. The future of boating, if not most transportation, is heading rapidly towards electric. Find out how it works. Read the story >>

Wind Lens doubles capacity Nuclear accident in Japan has universities there dreaming up new ways to make solar and wind energy sufficient to replace all of their nuclear power plants. Read the story >>

Video: Greenest House in Canada? Stunningly beautiful home shows off great green features like solar thermal hot water, green roofing, and Bullfrog Power 100% green energy. Read the story >>

Occupy Ideas into Action Be the ideas and action that will change everything. Yes, the occupy movement has shown us, we can simply take action now. Now is the time to be part of changing the way the world works. Read the story >>

Uganda produces electric car prototype Look out Nissan Leaf, here comes the Kiira EV, Uganda's first electric car. Read the story >>

Electric car to power your home with solar Nissan sees the future of solar energy. Having developed the most powerful and safe battery system (arguably) in the world, they've now seen that the opportunity now exists to scale production by offering the system as a backup power system for your house. Currently they are testing the concept in their own head office, a masterpiece in sustainable building design. Read the story >>

CoHousing Solar House Build a solar house, out of sustainable renewable super insulating straw bales, in the city, and make it affordable through cohousing? Okay. Done. Read the story >>

Solar Power Economics Now is the time to start investing in solar power. We are on the cusp of the major turning point where the panels you buy today will be producing electricity for less than any other source of energy at some point in the next two to ten years. If we accounted for the cost of pollution (carbon and nuclear waste) that point has already been passed. If we removed the subsidies to fossil and nuclear industries we'd also have passed the point where solar is more cost effective. It is in fact more cost effective and always has been. Only our economic systems has been used by vested interests to secure their large sunk investments in these polluting sources of energy. Read the story >>

Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff Review in Ontario How can Ontario make a good thing even better? You have until December 15th to add your ideas. Here are some responses to the survey that may provide food for thought. Read the story >>

Chris Hedges on Finding Freedom After his arrest in front of Goldman Sachs, as a part of the Occupy Wall Street sit in, Chris Hedges, upon his release wrote a thought provoking article for TruthDig.com, regarding the meaning of freedom. Read the story >>

Here Comes the Electric Car 2012 is The Year of the Electric Car. There are at least 7 models coming out, and those are all 100% electric cars. It is a very exciting time. Read the story >>

Awakening "A radical situation is a collective awakening...In such situations people become much more open to new perspectives, readier to question previous assumptions, quicker to see through the usual cons." - Ken Knabb, The Joy of Revolution Read the story >>

Documentary Showing: Climate Refugees Global climate change is now affecting millions of people. What is going to happen to the people displaced by climate change? What are you doing about it? Read the story >>

100% recyclable batteries to solve the storage and peak demand challenges Solar rooftops on homes, when integrated with smart battery systems, are the iPad of the energy world. Solar homes that can store a portion of their renewable energy, contribute to the grid on demand, and even operate autonomously when the grid fails, make for a beautiful energy experience that can power a democratized power future for us all. Here is another open source solar idea that we've proven works. Next generation batteries will then, within ten years, allow you to go fully off-the-grid. Read the story >>

#OccupyWallStreet is all about getting off the financial grid "Either you obstruct, in the only form left to us, which is civil disobedience, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil." - Chris Hedges Read the story >>

Getting off the grid with solar Is possible to get off the electricity grid in a city setting through various means of power generation? For example can an individual home owner set up enough solar panels to create enough power to run a fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, lights, computers etc.? How realistic could getting off the grid be? Read the story >>

Free Video: Back to Eden permaculture agriculture Back to Eden is a new feature documentary that follows one man's revolutionary approach to organic and permaculture gardening. Read the story >>

Green Energy Field Day This Saturday September 24 Ontario is a pioneer in green energy in North America. We want the planet to take notice. On September 24, join us for Ontario's first Green Energy Field Day, a grassroots surge that begins in your community and builds. Read the story >>

Democritizing the Electricity Grid Our time for the solar revolution has come. Distributed generation and renewable energy owned by local communities offers us a chance to regain our democratic rights. Read the story >>

Event: SunFest Solar Home Tours Sept 24th Join John Wilson as he leads tours of his sustainable design award winning solar home near Orangeville, Ontario. Learn how to build with local renewable materials like straw bales. See how profitable it can be to add solar panels to your rooftop with the MicroFIT program. Read the story >>