Flagstaff, AZ. May 14, 2013 – Willow Bend Environmental Education Center is hosting a presentation by Jim Corning on solar photovoltaic cells for home energy use. In partnership with the Coconino County Sustainable Building Program the presentation is on May 16th 5:00 PM at Willow Bend Environmental Education Center (703 East Sawmill Rd.) Come learn about installing and using solar photovoltaic cells to help meet your energy needs.
Jim Corning is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word having founded four high-tech businesses currently operating in Flagstaff. His businesses include Plug and Play Solar (the lead sponsor for the Sustainability Series), Prometheus Renewables, Novakinetics Aerosystems and Kinetic Defense.
Although he calls himself a ‘tinkerer,’ he is a mechanical engineer with a degree from MIT, and co-designer of the innovative Plug and Play system which he will demonstrate during the presentation at Willow Bend.
In college in the 1970s, during the first oil shocks, Jim saw firsthand how important energy is to our economy and way of life. Ever since, Jim has had a passion to help solve the energy problem. He has seen solar and power electronics technologies make it possible to generate electricity cleanly at our own residences – enough to power a home and charge an electric vehicle – and Jim came to believe that solar energy technology was the place to invest his skills and time.
Jim believes that if we want our kids and grandkids to live in a cleaner, more secure society, we need to take action ourselves now by investing in clean energy like solar electricity. Jim drives his own Chevy Volt around town, powered mostly by sunshine, thereby living a dream come true after those long gas lines of the 1970s.
His other businesses specialize in a variety of products: Prometheus Renewables offers full service design and installation of renewable energy systems; they generously donated and installed the photovoltaic system in use at Willow Bend. Novakinetics Aerosystems Inc. specializes in high-performing composite parts for aircraft; and Kinetic Defense is now a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance ballistic armor systems for aircraft used by the U.S. Department of State.
This event is a part of a free Sustainability Series hosted monthly through July, 2013 at Willow Bend Environmental Education Center. The series is presented in partnership with Willow Bend and the Coconino County Sustainable Building Program and is sponsored by Plug and Play Solar, APS and Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed.
The goal of the Sustainability Series at Willow Bend is to provide the northern Arizona community with a great opportunity to learn from local experts on sustainability, encompassing Willow Bend’s building and practices as models for teaching. For more information or to register, contact (928) 779-1745 or register online at: www.willowbendcenter.org/public-programs_adult