2 Green Guide • April 18, 2013
RECYCLING in Socorro
By Laura London
El Defensor Chieftain Reporter
llondon@dchieftain.com
Socorro Although the city of Socorro does not have curbside recycling service available at this time, recycling opportunities abound for residents who would like to keep as much material as they can out of area landfills. Robyn Harrison, assistant director of the Socorro Chamber of Commerce, said the city has a Keep New Mexico Beautiful recycling grant that supports efforts such as the Socorro High School Honor Society fundraiser held the first Saturday of every month. Students man a recycling collection site in the vacant lot south of Ace Hardware on Manzanares Avenue, where they gather newspapers and aluminum cans. On the third Saturday of each month, the city collects recyclable paper in the vacant lot north of the plaza, including mixed papers such as magazines and color paper; paper board like cereal, cracker or soda boxes; and white paper. The city also operates a recycling center near UPS and the city animal shelter on state Highway 1, which collects corrugated cardboard, various paper and used motor oil. The city asks that oil be placed in plastic containers or 55-gallon drums, and that cardboard boxes be flattened. Tires and appliances can be dropped off for recycling at the city’s landfill, about two miles south of the recycling center on Highway 1. Mike Lucero, city sanitation department director, said there is a $1 fee to drop off tires or appliances to be recycled. The landfill is open to the public Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lucero said summer hours, which start in June, are until 5 p.m. The landfill can be reached at 835-4279.
For miscellaneous household items and clothing, Harrison suggested donating those unwanted treasures to a thrift store rather than throwing them away. Socorro has two thrift stores — Secondhand Rose on California Street and Tiendas de Segundo on Spring Street. Harrison also recommended the freecycle. org website, where people can sign up for a free membership and advertise items they want to get rid of — for free, that is. People can also advertise on the site for items they would like to get. Everything on the site is free. The House, at 105 Neal Ave., always accepts donations for its free yard sales held every Friday. The House is a nonprofit community outreach that helps those in need with the free yard sales, as well as free holiday meals and a variety of classes. The House can be reached at 835-4357. Those who would like to have their own yard sale can post it on Facebook at www. facebook.com/socorroyardsales. For those who want curbside recycling and don’t mind paying a modest fee, EAPCO Inc. has taken over the recycling service previously provided by Morning WoodCutters Recycling and will continue offering the same service for the same price. EAPCO’s website states the company picks up glass, plastic, cardboard and paperboard, mixed paper, aluminum, steel cans, plastic grocery bags and scrap steel or copper on the third Saturday of each month. EAPCO will add more items for appointment only curb pickup since the company had already been recycling the large equipment it replaces, such as refrigerators. Computers, televisions and printers can be left on the shelves outside LTJ Computers on the Plaza, which recycles them, although they do not take microwaves or small appliances. LTJ is in the same building as the Chamber of Commerce and can be reached at 838-0576.
El Defensor Chieftain
Submitted photo
The city of Socorro has a cardboard recycling program with about 50 commercial businesses participating. These business owners separate their corrugated cardboard, then the city recycling staff pick up the cardboard and take it to the city maintenance yard to be collected. The city sells the cardboard to help defray the cost of collection. Recycling the cardboard also saves space in the solid waste landfill. Residents are welcome to take their cardboard directly to the city maintenance yard and leave the broken down boxes in the cardboard collection bin, just south of the animal shelter and UPS. The collection bin is open 24/7.
The Chamber of Commerce also does recycling, including cellphones; used printer cartridges and rechargeable batteries for the Rotary Club; and eyeglasses for the Lions Club. The Chamber can be reached at 835-0424. Leseburg Automotive Repair recycles junk cars — with titles — and can be reached at 838-4101. Amador Complete Recycling also recycles junk cars, as well as computers, appliances and metals. Smith’s and John Brooks Supermart grocery stores both recycle corrugated cardboard. Walmart has a recycling bin in the front entryway that collects plastic grocery bags.
El Defensor Chieftain
April 18, 2013 • Green Guide 3
SOCORRO’S FARMERS MARKET
a year-round locavore paradise
Locally grown food tastes better, healthier for people, planet
in grass-fed beef, which has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol in humans,” she said.
Karen Bailey-Bowman
Fresh-baked goods and other items made at the Socorro community kitchen, such as speciality jellies, are also offered at the market, as well as locally made pottery and other crafts.
El Defensor Chieftain Reporter
kbowman@dchieftain.com
Bread and beyond
Socorro “Locavores are people who enjoy eating food grown close to where they live. It costs more, but it’s worth it,” said Frances Deters, acting manager of Socorro’s Farmers Market. “The average food on your plate travels 3,000 miles to get there, wasting resources unnecessarily and contributing to greenhouse gasses.” Deters added the food generally comes from countries whose food inspection is not as strict and labor conditions more oppressive. Although the market is limited to Socorro County producers, New Mexico farmers from outside Socorro County can sell products that don’t compete with the county’s local farmers, she said. Moriarty area farmers often bring in sweet corn to sell.
Winter market — November through April — happens every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the south Finley Gym complex across from the city police station. Summer market is on the historic Socorro plaza, or close by, from May through October on Tuesday evenings from 4 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Patrons should check the Socorro Farmers Market on Facebook for news and schedules, or they can call Deters at 575-312-1730. “We are starting later on Saturdays this summer, because 8 is just too early for most people,” Deters said.
Taste test
Farm to table, month by month
Fresh local produce, eggs and meat taste better. “I challenge anyone to a side-by-side taste comparison of carrots grown at the farmers market and carrots sold at the supermarket,” Deters said. The farmers market now has an abundance of fresh eggs, she said. “Break a fresh farmers market egg in a bowl and compare the way it looks to a supermarket egg,” she said. “Then cook it. The taste is so superior.” Deters raises heritage pigs and grass-fed Angus beef for the market. Her Pancha Patch Farm on Chaparral Drive is home to heritage red wattle and mule foot pigs. “This pork has a higher fat content and it’s redder,” she said. “It’s more succulent than commercial breeds.” Grass-fed beef tastes better and is better for heart health. “The conjugated linoleic acid content is higher
Winter, summer schedules
What’s available each month depends upon what’s ripening in the fields and weather conditions. “Eating seasonally available food, like asparagus in the spring and pumpkins in the fall, seems more natural,” she said. “People are evolutionarily inclined to eat foods that are available only at certain times of the year. Personally, it puts me more in touch with the seasons.”
Plastic OK
This year, again Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) and Women Infants and Children (WIC) transactions are accepted. People can also use their debit/credit cards at the market. Customers wanting to use plastic instead of cash need to visit a booth at the market where they can swipe their cards to get farmers market cash. These wooden tokens can be used to purchase items at the market.
“I challenge anyone to a sideby-side taste comparison of carrots grown at the farmers market and carrots sold at the supermarket.” Frances Deters, Socorro Farmers Market acting manager
Here’s a run-down of what you might expect to find at the market month by month: • April — fresh asparagus, rhubarb, all the spring greens: spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, beet greens • May — a lot of spring greens, snow and English peas, broccoli, garlic scapes • June — garlic bulbs, fresh herbs like parsley and basil, potatoes, beets, carrots, apricots, cherries • July — summer squash, tomatoes, onions, leeks, peaches, sweet corn, eggplants, green peppers • August/September — green chile, melons, apples, pears, grapes • October — red chile, pumpkins, winter squash, sweet potatoes • November through March — turnips, beets, fresh salad and cooking greens, garlic, sweet potatoes
El Defensor Chieftain
4 Green Guide • April 18, 2013
RELOCATED: Gunnison’s prairie dogs find new home on refuge grasslands 155 released at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
it and then move on.” Prairie dogs tend to shift from location to location, leaving behind soil enriched by their manure and grass that has been mowed to allow the rodents to survey the area for predators, she said. The richer, groomed grass produces more succulent feed for grazers. But prairie dog burrows can disrupt ditches and farm fields, so the rodents are not a good match for valley irrigation systems, she said.
Karen Bailey-Bowman El Defensor Chieftain Reporter
kbowman@dchieftain.com
Sevilleta NWR Not your timid little bunny, prairie dogs are the tough kids on the block, which pleases Renee Robichaud, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge deputy manager. “Prairie dogs have charisma,” she said. “They’re not meek, but very tenacious and feisty. It’s not what you expect of a prairie prey animal.” Instead of freezing or fleeing at the first hint of danger, prairie dogs stand guard at the entrances to their burrows. They have specific barks that identify which kind of predator is threatening the community. Raptors, badgers, foxes, bobcats and coyotes all prey on prairie dogs. According Prairie Dog Pals, an Albuquerque-based advocacy group, “studies have revealed that they possess the most complex language of any (nonhuman) animal ever studied.” As volunteers and refuge staff unloaded a couple of dozen plastic portable kennels from a Suburban parked on grasslands at the foot of the Los Piños Mountains on a stormy April morning, the prairie dogs inside were voicing their complaints loudly. “They scream and bite,” refuge biology intern Ann Chenevert-Steffler warned. The April 10 event was the first mass release of the year; the remaining releases happen later on in the summer after the pups have been weaned, Sevilleta biologist Jon Erz said. Sevilleta has been home to displaced Gunnison’s prairie dogs since the first 300 were relocated from Santa Fe’s Rail
Keeping friends and families together
Karen Bailey-Bowman/El Defensor Chieftain
A Gunnison’s prairie dog awaits release at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. The rodents weigh from one to three pounds, and have been quarantined and dusted with flea powder before release to prevent the spread of disease. As with all mammals, fleas carrying bubonic plague can infest prairie dogs. Yard Park in 2005. In 2010, Prairie Dog Pals partnered with the refuge to catch and release prairie dogs. The refuge has now relocated over 3,000 prairie dogs, creating four new 40-acre colonies. Two small natural colonies remain on the refuge, holdouts from the original vast population of prairie dogs that existed on the original Campbell family ranch. Government eradication efforts had wiped out the prairie dogs before the family donated the property to the Nature Conservancy in 1973, which turned the land over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the same year. Prairie dog habitat nationwide has decreased 98 percent in the last 100 years, which means now they often settle where they are not welcome — city
parks, athletic fields, canal banks, fast food parking lots and airport runways. The animals are often poisoned or killed in traps. Prairie Dog Pal volunteers capture the rodents and nurture them until they can be released at a suitable natural habitat. The best possible habitat in the state is the expansive grasslands in the heart of the eastern portion of the refuge. The new prairie dog towns are far from any private land, so their presence won’t bother neighboring ranchers, even though Robichaud said studies have shown prairie dogs improve rangeland for other grazing animals — cattle, bison, pronghorn antelope and elk. “Wild grazers like bison and pronghorn prefer prairie dog towns,” Robichaud said. “Prairie dogs aerate the soil, fertilize
Releasing prairie dogs into the wild isn’t as simple as opening a cage door and letting the rodents loose. Steps have to be taken to be sure the territorial rodents are not thrown together with unfamiliar animals, and they have to be given time to get used to their new homes. “For them, it’s like being picked up by aliens and set down on a brand-new planet,” Robichaud said. The first step is to keep family groups together. Unfamiliar animals will attack each other. Breeding pairs and immature pups form family units, which are transported together in groups of two to five animals per cage. Neighboring families need to be released in the same area because prairie dogs are less likely to have conflicts with animals they recognize. Prairie Dog Pal volunteers label each cage by family group and capture site; Sevilleta biologist Jon Erz created a map of the grassland area with points indicating where each group should be released. Volunteers pick up each rodent by gripping the animal behind the head and between the shoulders to avoid being bitten. Then each prairie dog is gently pushed down a plastic tube to their new
n See Relocated, Page 5
El Defensor Chieftain
April 18, 2013 • Green Guide 5
Relocated from PAGE 4 home — an artificial burrow made by burying an upturned large plastic flower pot with two flexible drain pipes installed as exits to the surface. Their new homes are set four feet deep to keep the burrows at an optimal temperature, and a screen is placed under the pot to keep badgers from breaking in, Erz said. Each exit hole is covered by a mesh cage so the animals won’t stray from the safety of their new home. The cages are stuffed with grass and hay the rodents will use for bedding in their new burrow. For a few days, the animals are fed grain and sliced carrots daily. Prairie dogs get all the water they need from moisture in their food, so water isn’t provided. After that, the cages are removed and the dogs are free to move about, although biologist Erz wants them to stay close to the safety of the artificial burrow. Predation has decreased since the first Sevilleta prairie dog town was established, Robichaud said. Refuge biologists were dismayed by the mortality rate at the new colony. “We only had one colony and all the predators slammed it. Having all those prairie dogs in one place was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for predators,” she said. “The population didn’t really flourish.” Now there are several prairie dog towns, and predation is spread over a wider area. “With multiple populations established, we have a more natural balance between predator and prey,” she said. “The original site is small, but growing. We now want to go back and release more there.”
Karen Bailey-Bowman/El Defensor Chieftain
ABOVE: Refuge biology intern Ann Chenevert-Steffler unloads prairie dogs at the release site. Two to six family members are housed in each cage. RIGHT: Prairie Dog Pals volunteer Ed Urbanski and refuge deputy manager Renee Robichaud release a prairie dog into its new artificial burrow on the 40-acre area refuge staff prepared for the animals.
El Defensor Chieftain
6 Green Guide • April 18, 2013
LIGHTING UP THE WORLD: One home at a time By Elva K. Österreich El Defensor Chieftain Editor
eosterreich@dchieftain.com
One of the newest businesses in town, Solaro Energy, is all about light. The company produces solar powered lighting and ventilation systems and solar powered generators, owner Dennis Grubb said. Solaro sells its products to dealers all over the world, with Australia and New Zealand two of the top markets for the made-in-the-USA solar-based systems. Socorro County residents can watch for Solaro products to be available through local building supply/hardware stores sometime in June, Grubb said. Products Solaro produces include solar powered attic fans and electronic sky lights. “There is nothing like bright, cheerful light,” Grubb said. “Our products make a home, a home.” Grubb said he originally invented the tubular skylight but wanted to come up with a more efficient way to provide a natural light to customers without the expense or potential problems of the skylights. Tubular skylights bring in hot and cold, Grubb said. Also they require holes in the roof, which can cause problems of leakage and extra cost. So he set out to do the job better. “Picture a two-story house,” Grubb said. “What choices are there to make it bright and inviting?” Grubb designed an LED that would mimic sunlight and provide a “light engine.” “Sunlight stimulates a positive response in your brain,” he said. His solar lighting options bring sunlight in from a solar panel on the roof, through a single wire leading to the sunlight mimicking LEDs — up to 20 fixtures in the house. “At Solaro we run the lights for free,” Grubb said.
Solar powered attic fans, left, and solar generators, below, are just two of the products being produced at Socorro’s new business, Solaro Energy. Solaro products will soon be available through local retail outlets RAKS, Gambles and Ace Hardware. Elva K. Österreich/ El Defensor Chieftain
Tubular skylights cost the consumer $4,500, he said. With the solar powered lighting, if the customer installs it himself, it can be done for about $1,600. And it will last 25 to 30 years. “These are super green,” Grubb said. “It uses no power, it is the same spectrum as sunlight except the ultraviolet and infrared ranges. We take away the two damaging (light ranges) in your house.” The solar lighting also can have the option of a switch to electric power so the same fixtures can be used at night and when the sun is obscured. The light produced from the LEDs is also fine for the plants in the house. However, Solaro also produces a system especially for growing plants that will provide a plant-healthy spectrum of light for people in cities and those who want
gardens in their basements or garages. “These systems have an extra punch to make plants grow,” Grubb said. “We use a lot of technology behind the scenes to make this as easy as flipping a switch for the consumer.” The solar powered attic ventilators produced by Solaro save energy and supply costs. Grubb said in the summer, attic temperatures can easily reach 160 F. A cooler attic will keep energy costs down because coolers won’t have to work so hard to keep a home cool. Also the fans can prolong the life of the home itself, preventing heat damage to the structure and roof. Using energy efficient products such as Solaro produces will allow the customer to recoup their original expenses within three to five years, Grubb said. “Here at Solaro we are a bunch of treehuggers,” he said.
El Defensor Chieftain
April 18, 2013 • Green Guide 7
NEW MEXICANS BENEFIT
from energy related tax credits El Defensor Chieftain reports Santa Fe The Energy, Conservation and Management Division manages several certification programs for renewable energy systems and energy efficiency in buildings, which yield benefits to New Mexico citizens and corporations in the form of tax credits. The division processed over 2,200 applications from October 2011 to October 2012. “Energy usage is made more affordable through tax credits and creates clean energy economic development opportunities for New Mexico businesses,” ECMD division director Louise Martinez said. “Citizens and businesses can often combine these with other state, federal and utility incentives for increased cost savings.” The renewable energy production tax credit supports utility-scale wind, biomass and solar projects. There are now 750 megawatts of wind power generation and 152 megawatts of solar power generation operating in New Mexico.
Ten applications for solar power plants and four for wind farms were received, reviewed and processed by ECMD. Nine certifications for solar generators and one for a wind farm were issued. Although the allocation has reached its ceiling of available tax credits, retirement of some tax credits issued to older certified generators will begin in late 2013, making those funds available for newer approved projects. The solar market Development tax credit helps to make residential scale solar systems more affordable. Solar development and job creation occurred in 23 of 33 New Mexico counties. A total of 1,168 system certification applications were received, reviewed and processed during this latest annual period (1,090 photovoltaic, 78 thermal). This represents 5.2 megawatts of renewable electricity and 2,400 square feet of solar thermal collector area. The sustainable building tax credit incentivizes energy efficient and green design techniques in residential and commercial buildings. ECMD received, reviewed and processed 1,036 applications, including two commercial buildings of 109,000 square feet; 294 multifami-
ly housing units of 267,249 square feet; 79 manufactured homes of 128,257 square feet; and 665 single family homes of just over 1.3 million square feet. The construction of these new homes and commercial buildings, meeting EnergyStar, LEED or Build Green New Mexico standards, provided jobs in 30 counties. The geothermal ground coupled heat pump tax credit has been in effect since 2010, helping to make this system type more affordable for homeowners and commercial building owners. ECMD received, reviewed and processed a total of 28 applications, primarily in Doña Ana County. ECMD manages all of the above tax credit certification programs according to the respective underlying statutes and administrative rules. An additional tax credit certification program became available in 2012: the agricultural biomass tax credit. This tax credit can be used to support waste to energy programs for dairy farms. For more information on these programs, visit www. CleanEnergyNM.org.
8 Green Guide • April 18, 2013
ENERGY ALTERNATIVES:
El Defensor Chieftain
SEC keeps eye on new options By Elva K. Österreich El Defensor Chieftain Editor
eosterreich@dchieftain.com
Socorro Electric Cooperative board members and staff make a point of watching for opportunities to develop renewable energy sources, according to SEC manager Joseph Herrera. Renewable energy sources of interest include large scale photovoltaic, multiunit wind energy and geothermal energy. One possibility currently being considered is a wind farm in the Tierra Grande area. Herrera said the co-op has entered a feasibility study agreement with a landowner interested in using his 500 acres as a wind farm. Another project the co-op is looking at is a pilot program for solar water heaters. “We are currently working on how to finance the program and looking at what is involved in the heaters themselves,” Herrera said. The board’s alternative energy committee is very active, he said. They are
looking at possibly creating a solar energy plant in Socorro in partnership with other cooperatives in the state. The committee also is talking with the Socorro City Council about a possible natural gas facility. According to the SEC website, the low price, abundance and easy availability of natural gas make consideration of a combined cycle electrical generation facility worth consideration. Natural gas fueled facilities are also in place in various parts of New Mexico. “When a renewable energy source goes off for some reason, you need a backup,” Herrera said. The co-op gets about two applications a week from home and business owners interested in installing solar voltaic panels, he said. Currently there are 36 solar panel systems online in the co-op area. Three of the systems are larger than 10 kilowatts. One product the co-op has available for its customers to purchase is an electric thermal storage system. With ETS, off-
SEC works with EnergyStar to offer rebates EnergyStar is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping everyone save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. EnergyStar helps consumers make the energy efficient choice. Tri-State, partnered with Socorro Electric Cooperative, offers a $40 rebate on a new EnergyStar rated refrigerator, freezer or clothes washer and a $30 rebate on a new dishwasher. Mail in or hand deliver the receipt and yellow energy guide tag to SEC in order to submit a rebate request. The office is located at 215 Manzanares Ave., P.O. Box H, Socorro, NM 87801. peak electricity is converted to heat and the heat can be stored to use during more costly electric use hours because power is cheaper when demand is low. The co-op offers reduced rates on electricity consumed during off-peak times, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. An ETS system contains electric heating elements that lie within special, highdensity ceramic bricks. These bricks can
store vast amounts of heat for extended periods of time. Consumers should be careful with these products because if they forget to turn them off, or turn them on again during the day, the energy savings declines, Herrera said. Other products the co-op has to offer are CFL light bulbs and energy efficient water heaters, Herrera said.