Solar PowerBike needs your help!

Help us win a grant to build this Solar PowerBike for the Flatbush community!

Sustainable Flatbush has entered a proposal in National Geographic’s Green Effect environmental grant contest. Winners receive funding to create “green”  projects that help their local environment and community. Help us win so we can build the PowerBike mobile solar energy station here in Flatbush!

WE NEED YOU to visit the website, rate our proposal, and  leave a comment! Your ratings and comments give us a better chance of being selected as one of the 10 finalists.

Here’s what we will build if we win:

Sustainable Flatbush off-grid solar PowerBike!

Mobile, clean power

With a 200-watt solar panel, batteries for reserve power on cloudy days, and a modular design that fits neatly into a cargo bike, the PowerBike provides on-demand, mobile power for limitless applications:

• * Anybody can charge their laptops, phones or mp3 players at Sustainable Flatbush events
• * The system cranks out enough power to run a small sound system and lights for outdoor programming
• * Local businesses “host” the PowerBike, attracting customers and highlighting their sustainable business practices
• * Our community garden has clean electricity where there is no access to the electrical grid
• * Of course, the PowerBike provides backup power in emergency situations

Turn the crank to point it toward the sun!

An education station makes the PowerBike ideal for teaching school kids about energy and the environment. Through appealing readouts and data-collection software, students monitor system performance like power output and avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

Why:

The residents of Flatbush, Brooklyn are showing what we can do on the neighborhood level to reduce our carbon footprint, fight global warming, and foster community at the same time.

This project is a long-term investment in local renewable energy for our community. Day after day, year after year, the neighborhood PowerBike keeps harnessing clean power, keeps teaching the skills that are the foundation of our new green economy, and keeps modeling a way of life that does not jeopardize future generations.

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