Projects

Sarah: Now is the time of year that David and I are trying to get as many projects finished before the start of the semester program in January. There were a few big projects we wanted to accomplish this fall, and were somewhat dependent on getting the money approved for those projects, picking up the material for the projects, and coordinating with the workers who would be working on those projects with us. Naturally, the accumulation of all of that happened the week of Adele's birth. So, we were slightly delayed as everything was put on hold while David and I began the process of figuring out our lives as parents.

Within the last couple of weeks, we were able to get all of the material out here and our workers began to work on a few of those big projects. One exciting project to see come to fruition is the installation of 2 solar hot water heaters that will be able to provide hot water for QERC without the use of electricity. This has been one of David's dreams as QERC's hot water tanks slowly began to fall apart, so the approval of these solar hot water systems was very exciting. It is one more way that QERC is heading in the direction of being sustainable in the way we use resources. Since we have an unlimited supply of water, the elimination of electricity in our water use cuts back a lot our use of energy.

There have been a couple of workers who have been here every day working on a couple other projects for us as well. One is the construction of a car port. With the purchase of our new car, we decided that in order to take better care of the car and eliminate the wear of the weather we experience here, a car port was a necessity.

Another project is the construction of a covered laundry structure to dry clothes. Before we had clotheslines up outside and encouraged the use of drying clothes on the line, but with the rain that falls every day (especially during the rainy season!) it becomes more difficult to dry clothes in that manner. Now with a covered drying area, we can eliminate the use of our dryer - with the exception of Ana, who often has to turn laundry over quickly with groups that come through. It will be another way that QERC is able to practice good conservation ethics and use less energy.