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Solar CITIES is completing Florida's first community biodigester at the Bishop family farm Rosebud Sustainability Education project. This is the first of three and will be used as a proof of concept and training ground for the entire south, using biogas as the central technology that will include hydroponics, native plants, and Solar energy. USF Patel College students and faculty have been involved and it is hoped that the site will become a living laboratory for best practices in Sustainable Development that will influence the entire region.

Global collaboration and partnerships in response to the Syrian refugee crisis at CGI

"While Nobody  expects the Spanish Inquisition, I expect or at least hope you may want to hear my “what’s new with  Solar CITIES”  3 minute exposition in which I would like to reveal our three chief weapons against such diverse elements as poverty indoor air pollution, deforestation and climate change.

Weapon #1:

The use of the term “sustainable cities” forces us to ask the question “what are we trying to sustain?”. These days “sustainability” has become a buzzword for some hazy notion of “ecologically friendly”.  But “sustainable” merely means “lasting”.  Not everything that we sustain is a good thing, and in many cities, for example, crime has become self-perpetuating and hence “sustainable”. Are cities making people happy so that they will stay and contribute?

T.H. Culhane

Hinku Valley

Executive Summary:

Over the past two springs, on a Blackstone Ranch Foundation/National Geographic Innovation Challenge Grant to the Khumbu and Hinku Valleys of the alpine Himalayas, Dr. Thomas Culhane worked with Dr. Alton Byers, Chris Rainier and the Mountain Institute's Anrita Sherpa to assess the potential for replacing  endangered juniper shrub, forest timber resources and kerosene and bottled gas with renewable, net-carbon-free and inflation resistant technologies.

The Solar CITIES curriculum is evolving, challenging students around the world to add to the pool of citizen science exploring applied microbiology and engineering to make a better world.

Our first capstone project challenge addresses a vital need for the small biogas movement:

HOW DO WE BEST HEAT OUR DIGESTERS FOR  MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE AND YEAR LONG OPERATION, PARTICULARLY IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES?

What we need from you now is performance data on the use of various heating options.

Solar CITIES Training Program Outline

By T.H. Culhane and Taha Majeed

PHASE I