Fire and Floods Devastate Solar Living Center

As the heavy storms lashed California last weekend, a drama unfolded on the grounds of the Solar Living Center in Mendocino county. The worst flooding to hit the Hopland area since the 1950’s inundated the unique renewable energy education facility only to be compounded by the breakout of a fire that couldn’t be fought. From the SLI press release…

“There’s over eight feet of running water washing across the site, we can’t see the cars in the parking lot, and the dome burned down,” said intern Eric Fox in the first of the morning light. For 45 minutes the fire burned in the middle of the flood. Furniture, solar panels, the entire intern library, and years of archived pictures, posters and SLI memorabilia were destroyed. The combination of fire and flood did a minimum of $150,000 in damage to the structures and grounds of the Solar Living Center. In addition to the burned-out dome, the flood also destroyed 2 trucks, 2 cars, and a tractor. Many of the natural buildings on the site will need repair work, although most of them survived the floods remarkably well. But more conventional structures like storage sheds with their entire contents of tools, supplies and other equipment were swept away in the devastation.

If you’re not familiar with the Solar Living Center, it’s owned by Gaiam Real Goods and acts as a demonstration site for renewable energy and sustainable living technologies, as well as the headquarters for the non-profit Solar Living Institute. The facility is located about a 2 hour drive north of San Francisco and is the site of the annual SolFest.

The Solar Living Institute has initiated a fund-raising drive to help with the costs of clean up and rebuilding. Their goal is $150,000 and it looks like they’re off to a quick start with a little over $8,000 raised as of this afternoon.

Head on over to their website (www.solarliving.org) is you’re interested in lending a hand.

[via RenewableEnergyAccess]