Passive Solar Seminar

1:30-2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013                

Holdsworth Rm. 211,

UMASS Amherst

A conversation on Passive Solar in developing nations with Dr. Komp.

Dr. Komp will discuss the development of low-cost solar technologies throughout third world countries, as well as the use of passive solar to maximize energy efficiency in developed countries.

Dr. Richard Komp, PhD has 50 years of personal and professional experience with solar and other renewable energy technologies.  Dr. Komp is the Director and Co-Founder of Skyheat Associates, a nonprofit organization which promotes public awareness and use of solar energy and conservation.  His off-grid house, which he built on the coast of Maine, is being established as the Downeast Alternative Design Solar Center, a public charity.  He is the author of Practical Photovoltaics: Electricity from Solar Cells, Revised 3rd Edition, which has been called “the easiest and most complete education on photovoltaics.”

In recent decades, Dr. Komp has dedicated himself to working with low income communities around the world to help them to achieve economic and energy self-sufficiency.  He has pioneered PV module production as a cottage industry in many countries, including Nicaragua, Mexico, South Africa, Costa Rica, Honduras, Chile, Greece, Columbia, Brazil, Cuba, San Andres, India, Ghana, Niger, France, Haiti, Peru, Mali, Rwanda, Pakistan and the USA.