Stanton Airfield STEP

OCTT 2010 - Stanton Airfield is important to all of us. We need to keep our wonderful little aviation playground going, and one area I am helping with in this regard is in reducing SYN's utility costs. So far costs have dropped from $15K in 2008 to $10K/yr now mainly thru migrating SYN from propane-based heating to off-peak electric heating which costs 1/3rd the regular rate. This year's effort was to boost the shop's ceiling insulation from the original R11 to R49 and sealing the bi-fold door. This will help significantly this winter.

Currently we are attacking some of the smaller stuff. We are going to replace the kitchen refrigerator and freezer with Energy Star units, and we are working to reduce or eliminate all the "Vampire power devices" - devices that suck power even when turned off, such as TVs and idle battery chargers. I did this in my own home and cut the monthly bill by over 100KWHs; this equates to $150/yr (that's 8 glider tows!).

2011

So here comes the exciting part - over the next year we hope to add solar panels and a small wind generator in an effort to replace purchased KWHs with KWHs we create ourselves! On the surface, this is not very economical, but here is how you can help:

1. Donate "surplus" aviation items to SYN and we will resell them on EBAY to create a funding pool.

2. Make a financial contribution to SYN to support STEP directly

3. Donate your time, expertise, and services - totally great fun for geeks and nerds (see me).

For every 1000 watts of sustained alternative energy we create we will offset SYN's annual electric cost by $1000 every year! That's pretty cool. A 1000 watt solar array or wind turbine will on average produce 100kwh/m, so it will take time for us to build up a system to where it will significantly reduce the 3400kwh we buy each month for regular needs.

So do you have any aviation things to donate? - such as handheld radios, GPS devices, instruments, a book collection, aviation parts, etc? We'd prefer items with current worth of over $50 and in good condition.

You can either give or send these to me or place them in the "STEP" donation box in the SYN office. We will log these in and resell them. We will also post news about this program on this web page.

Thank you for all you do for Stanton Airfield!