South Mountain Company

Martha’s Vineyard’s integrated design/build company

This blog provides up-to-date news of goings on at South Mountain Company and occasional musings from John Abrams (and others).

Martha's Vineyard

Earth Day SunPower & SMCo Series Conclusion

By John Abrams |

SunPower’s final blog post about its collaboration with SMCo is focused on our commercial and affordable housing solar projects.

That’s it for this series, just in time for Earth Day 2017, which comes just in time for the planet. In “How The Active Many Can Overcome the Ruthless Few,” Bill McKibben says “We’ll either save or doom the planet during the Trump administration.” Today scientists will march on the National Mall. A week later, on Trump’s 100th day, there will be another major Climate Change march in Washington. Scientists are angry. People are angry. McKibben says, “Trump has pissed people off, and pissed-off people don’t ask for small and easy progress. They demand the shifts that reality requires.”

Now is the time. As the SunPower series demonstrates, we can effectively do what we have been unable to do in the past. The shift to renewables is underway, un-stoppable and irreversible, but time is the big variable. How fast, how soon, how much?

Link to the SunPower blog post here. Onward.

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SunPower: There’s More

By John Abrams |

For the Earth Day campaign mentioned in the last post, SunPower created two videos and three blog posts. This link will take you to their second video and second blog post. Please take the journey to explore the SunPower/South Mountain relationship further. This one is about the connection between our devotion to craft and our passion for solar. The two go hand in hand.

We’ll send out another reminder when the 3rd SunPower blog post is up. Thanks for listening!

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SunPower Features South Mountain & Vineyard for Earth Day

By John Abrams |

To honor Earth day this year, SunPower, the manufacturer of the solar panels we install, decided to do a campaign about South Mountain here on the Vineyard. They put a ton of effort into this. They spent time here with us last Fall, did several videos and photo shoots, and wrote extensively about our company and our work. We’re honored by their decision to feature us, and we appreciate their beautiful work. We also appreciate our relationship with SunPower, an American company that makes the best solar panels in the world. If you’d like to see what they’re up to with this, click here.

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The Lease of the Long Now

By John Abrams |

After a year of design, we’ve just begun construction of a sweet project for a great family on an extraordinary property at Seven Gates Farm. It’s the third project we have done, on different pieces of this remarkable this part of the Vineyard. The first was in 1995, the second in 2004, and now this one.

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The Carpenters will Endure

By John Abrams |

This has been one long, cold winter with very few breaks.

There was a day in January when we had the coldest temperature (5 below) since I’ve lived here (nearly 40 years).  Many of the New England snowstorms dropped more in the southerly regions than in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The snow stayed on the ground.  Turned to ice from time to time.  The cold kept on coming.

It’s not over yet.  A blizzard’s on the way, or so they say.

Through it all, our carpenters and solar installers are out there in it, day in and day out.  Sixteen of our 35 employees do carpentry or solar installations – almost half our workforce.

Sometimes they’re working inside, but mostly not, especially this winter when I really wish they could have been.

But no such luck.

It does help to have a heat source to go to.  Here’s a beauty, on one of our jobs, with the crew gathered at “camp” for coffee break.

During one deep cold snap in January Billy Dillon, one of our foremen, came into the office and announced, “Tomorrow is  architects’ day on the job.”

Only one, Ryan Bushey, showed up.  He may be smiling, but you can bet he’s hurtin’ and shivering too.

How long do you think he lasted at 10 blustery degrees?

Unlike Ryan, they dress for it.  Phil Forest, our solar foreman, who’s out there every day that he possibly can be, says it’s all about layering, and wool is the best for minimizing bulk.  Here’s what he wears on cold days:

• 2 pairs wool felt boot inserts

• 2 pairs thin wool socks

• 3 pairs wool long johns

• 2 turtle necks

• 2 wool sweaters

• 2 sweatshirts (one a hoodie)

• wool hat

• warm, comfortable knee pads

• 2 cups of coffee

A beard helps too, he says.  He listed fifteen different articles of clothing (!) and the list doesn’t even include pants and boots and gloves.  Wonder how long it takes him to get dressed, huh?

Here’s a series of photos that shows the dedication of the solar crew (Phil, Hunter, and Dario) to getting the job done.

7:30 AM – snow on roof

About 9 AM -shoveled snow

About 10 AM – remaining snow melted

4 PM – modules installed

Job well done, in tough conditions.

These guys, all 16 of them – that’s Billy, Phil, Hunter, Dario, Rocco, Jon, Jean, DonE, Pete, PeteD, Bob, Curtis, Ryan (not the one in shorts), Ian, Chris, and Aaron to name them each – work in sometimes punishing conditions, doing what they do with warm clothes, great determination, tremendous endurance, big hearts, and good humor.   And remarkable skill.

They might just say Aw Shucks but I don’t think it’s a stretch to call it heroic.

 

For Better Or Worse

By John Abrams |

Several weeks ago my old friend Marc Rosenbaum arrived on Martha’s Vineyard.  He often arrives on Martha’s Vineyard.  For 20 years this distinguished, nationally recognized building performance engineer has been arriving here to consult with us – to help us make better buildings. For 30 years he has been responsible for some of the most advanced buildings in New England.

When he arrived here last Tuesday, it was different than most times. 

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