Projects and Programs... |
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Mountain Park Environmental Center Biomass Project, July 2009 In early 2007, Dave Van Manen contacted me through the Governor's Energy Office and asked, "Can on-site wood from our wildfire mitigation plan to heat our a 14,000 sq. ft. WPA era building my non-profit, the Mountain Park Environmental Center, is getting ready to renovate?" "Yes!" I had a few ideas and examples for him and the rest is history. Early 2009, Dave lit the match that started his biomass system that will heat the building and provide hot water for showers.
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Salvation Army Camp Biomass Project, February 2009 (link to the Colorado Governor's Energy Office, GEO). For the past 3-years I've been shepherding a wood-as-fuel project at the Salvation Army's High Peak Camp outside of Estes Park, Colorado. I proposed this project - replacing increasingly expensive propane with on-site waste wood - to the Colorado Wood program (CSFS) and the Colorado Governor's Energy Office because it just looked like a great application of clean boiler technology. And that its success would send a positive message to other mountain camps and resorts. In August, 2008, we lit the match that started the test run. |
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Flexible Energy Communities Initiative (FLECI), 2006-2009 If your community is planning a new building and you the economics for on-site renewables like biomass and solar just don't work out, don't give up. We've created a design assistance program to help you make your new building Wood Ready and Solar Ready (and a few other cool technologies). Can't say Yes today? Well, say Yes tomorrow. Here are the key documents I created for the Colorado Governor's Energy Office: |
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Mountain Studies Institute, Silverton, Colorado, 2005-2007 We created this project on a shoestring budget to create a successful example on how wood pellets from regional forest treatment can be used to economically replace propane in Colorado's mountain communities (and lots of other places). U.S. Representative John Salazar was the guest of honor at the world's first pellet bag opening ceremony. To change the world, I believe you must tell an authentic and shareable story (I learned this from my favorite marketing guru Seth Godin). |
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Strategic Project Design... |
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Wood Pellet Market Analysis for the Mountain Ute Tribe, November 2007 This 9-page report describes the regional pellet market for the Four Corner area that might be one day served by a tribal pellet mill. I created this with Carla Harper on behalf of the US Forest Service. |
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Woody Biomass Project Assessment for the Little Colorado River Plateau RC&D, April 2008 4-page Marketing Perspective. |
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Communication Products... |
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The Biomass Adventures, Earth Day, April 22nd, 2009 This is a HUGE file, but it is a pretty big idea, too. This is a fun document that chronicles the past 5-years of the efforts of MottainaiColorado.org (I'm one is its co-founders) to establish a link between Colorado and Japan using wood biomass. It started when I realized that if I wanted to do some cool US-Japan project work related to the New Energy Economy here in Colorado, I'd have to help create those projects myself. |
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Where Wood Works, May 2007 (revised 2009)
This is a 16-page booklet describes successful uses of wood-as-fuel for public buildings. I created this with Carla Harper on behalf of the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are lots of technical papers out there that don't get read. And there are lots of fluffy color brochures that don't have much to say. This unique publication is both enjoyable to look through and full of solid technical information. And guess what? People like to have information presented in a way that respects their time and intelligence. It was a lot of fun to create, and NEWS FLASH (12/2008): The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) as just printed an additional 6,000 copies (now totaling 13,000 copies in print). This document is available on the following websites (as well as DanBihn.com, of course):
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Making Chips (video),In Progress As part of a proposal for a communication product on the Mountain Pine Beetle, I made this 50-second YouTube video. This will certainly find its way into a high-end PDF product. In the meantime, it shows the sort of video that my DSLR makes. |
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| Published Articles... | ||
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Solar Today, March-April 2008 (cover too -- see below) I'm really excited about this issue of Solar Today. I set off to write an article about how rejoining the Kyoto Protocol process would be a huge benefit to US businesses; I wound up writing about why any carbon reduction mechanism based on the "biggest bang for the buck" is almost certain to result in bad investments. China and the rest of the world(including the US) are building new coal power plants at an alarming rate, while much of our greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction investments are doing virtually nothing to reduce energy demand that lead to coal plants. The editors at Solar Today were awesome in guiding me - and in making the cover look so beautiful. |
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In this article, I explore how the use of wood-as-fuel is changing and may become mainstream in some places. Austria uses wood for more than 20% of their entire energy supply! |
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In this article, I describe some of the cool things going on in the Japanese new-energy market -- and why excitement and buzz matter! While the US has been |
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Published Commercial Photography... |
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Solar Today, January-February 2010 cover This composite cover was created by Solar Today's Art Director, Allison Gray. I made all the images – but that was the easy part. A very nice way to start off the new decade! |
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Solar Today, Getting Started, October 2009 cover This may just be my favorite cover so far. The assignment: find and photograph a solar home that makes sense for 2010. To me, that meant finding home that a normal human being could both afford to own and want to live in. I asked around for something "fun and on the small side." Several folks independently suggested this home. It turned out to be John and Yayoi Shaw's place. I've known both of them for several years now. John through the solar industry; Yayoi from the Denver Japanese Consulate. Small Planet. Right size home. |
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Solar Today, July-August 2009 cover One of the coolest things about being both an engineer and a photojournalist, is that I get to talk with my engineering colleagues about what they are doing. These conversations often turn into geek-fests -- as was the case with Abound Solar's Tim Barry. He used to work for Atmel Semiconductors that made the really cool (and cheap!) microcontroler I used for a greenhouse control system I developed in the late 90's. Sharing the excitement for his new gig in the solar business helped defuse the fact that I had a big fat 16-35mm lens pointing at him. |
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Solar Today, March, 2009 cover You can read about the little adventure I had making this picture on the Solar Today website.It was great fun (as usual), and the staff at Solar Today made this look great (as usual). This home is on the market for something like $3.9M. If I hadn't put all of my assets into Madoff Securities, I'd buy a few of these for my friends. What was I thinking? |
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Rural Connections Brief, March, 2009 cover This is one of the images I made for Colorado State University's Clean Energy Super Cluster last year. This image is of some of the researchers (and beer-buddies) at Solix Biofuels, Inc. "The Western Rural Development Center collaborates with its partners, including LGUs, local citizens, practitioners, NGOs, and others, to promote excellence in research, education, and extension of western land-grant institutions." |
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Solar Today, Get Started, October 2008 cover Sometimes the sun goddesses smile on my photography. I had one day and two homes.The weather, which had been uncooperative the day before, cooperated. The flowers were in perfect bloom (and This is one of Bella Energy's solar installations. I think the most beautiful one in Colorado. It looks like the whole roof is made of solar panels -- and one day they all will be. |
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Solar Today, September-October 2008 cover Colorado State University does it again! I was asked to communicate "young people getting ready for an exciting career in renewable energy." These two grad students are developing next generation lithium battery technology -- ultimately for use in electric vehicles. The "storage problem" of intermittent renewable energy sources is anything but a problem for these student. It is an opportunity to make a difference and have cool career! |
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Solar Today, July-August 2008 cover Solar Today was running an article on the merits of some types of biofuels - including algae. They had seen some of my CSU/Solix images, but said they |
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Solar Today, March-April 2008 cover I took this shot on a tour of our local wind farm in Medicine Bow, WY a couple of years ago. When I was laying on the dirt taking this, everyone thought I must be Solar Today won the 2008 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence for this cover. |
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Solar Today, January-February 2008 cover I made this picture of the LED holiday lighting in downtown Fort Collins. It shows how efficiency can be beautiful and popular -- as save money. |
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Solar Today September-October 2006 cover I made this picture of New Belgium's co-founders, Jeff and Kim's new-zero-energy home. It shows how PV can be a beautiful addition to a beautiful home. |
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No, that isn't me in the new-age spacesuit This article includes 4 of my photographs - and it's pretty cool story. |
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In the press... |
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You don't get quoted in the New York Times everyday -- which according some of my This is an excellent article by Kirk Johnson pointing out that as we move into a low-carbon economy, we will face some difficult trade-offs. I strongly believe that nuclear power is not needed -- better choices are already here. But also believe we must have an open public dialog about this. I have a great deal of confidence that our fellow citizens are capable of understanding the issues and making the right choices.
My quote from this article was even featured in a 2009 book called "Engineering Ethics :
concepts and cases" -- Hey, maybe we can all get along as we wind down the road of sustainability. |
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The Flexible Energy Community idea is gaining traction. I was interviewed by Forestry Notes -- I almost sound intelligent. Next time I plan to use verbs and things like that. |
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Patents... |
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US Patent 5,751,737 5/12/1998. Boundary Scan Testing Device Ok, this doesn't have anything to do with new energy -- and it wasn't really a very good idea. But the corporate |
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US Patent 4,476,869 10/16/1984, Pacer Analyzer This was a good idea. It is for a testing heart pacemakers and patients at the same time to verify the particular pacemaker is a good match and will work. I did this work in 1979 or so when I was 6-years old (ok, it's been a long while and I The cool thing is that I'm the sole inventor. As is usual, the company that paid for my time and all the legal fees (Intermedics Inc., now defunct) got all the rights -- probably worth a couple of beers, if you account for inflation. |
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US Patent 4,290,430 9/22/1981, Pacer Analyzer This is just another part of the above idea. In fact, I'm not really sure what the difference is -- but I suspect it is I wish I could read the language of patents (not really). |
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Japan... |
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Japanese Language Proficiency Level One Certificate 2/19/1992 This is rather amazing -- something like a black belt in Japanese, which I really do speak. But the highest level of the Japanese Ministry of Education's test? Hmm... I don't know about that. There are two important things you should know:
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Nikkei Electronics 5/11/1992 I wrote the original article in English with some notes in Japanese. The editorial staff did an amazing job of writing this actual Japanese. It is a short editorial written in a humorous (well, it made me laugh anyway) dialog style -- Galileo meets Spy vs. Spy sort of thing -- exploring and exploding the myth that Japanese Salary Men are not individualists and Americans are. Subtle, but true! |
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Dan presents to the Japan Pellet Club, Nagano 11/12-20/2008 In 2005, I put together a 3 weeks fact-finding visit to Japan to see what was going on in the wood biomass industry Anyway, I was invited to speak at the 2008 Annual Pellet Club Meeting about progress in the US/Colorado wood pellet market since I last presented to this association in 2005. Some in the audience were impressed that I could speak Japanese; I was impressed that they could understand it! |
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Japan Trip & Yamagata 11/12-20/2008 This was a multi-purpose trip:
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Community... |
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Be Local Featured in HobbyFarm.com 12/12/2009 The folks at HobbyFarm.com posted this article about the resurgence of winter markets around the country – featuring a picture I took for Gailmarie Kimmel and the Be Local crew. Even after a week of record-breaking cold temperature (twenty below!), there was plenty of local produce and gifts at the Winter Farmer's Market in downtown Fort Collins. Here's a 90-second video I put up on YouTube featuring one of Gailmarie's hit songs. |
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CSU's Japan Student Association "Matsuri" 11/14/2009 Check out this 4 minute YouTube video of the Japan Student Associations dance troupe. Yeah, the guy using his DSLR to record this has a lot to learn -- which is one of the reasons I did this. The other reason is that there really isn't anything more inspiring than watching someone do something they love doing. |
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Robert Kennedy, Jr. Rocks the Fort 04/13/2009 Katie Hoffner used her magic wand to put together "Environmental Heroes to Provide Vision on How to Make Renewable Energy Communities a Reality" here in Fort Collins. And she did it in just a few weeks. Amazing. Please feel free to use these photos for non-commercial use and for any use by non-profit organizing. And credit is much appreciated (please). All other uses restricted. |
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Governor Ritter and Senate Appointee Bennet visit Fort Collins 01/09/2009 In Fort Collins, I'm known as the Progressive Paparazzo (Paparazzi is plural). Good chance if a local candidate is trying to move the world to a sustainable place, my photographs are on their web site. Its a fun way to help out When Governor Ritter came to town, I had to be there. He's one of the most forward thinking Governors in the country -- promoting the New Energy Economy (President Obama took this line from him!) and climate friendly economic development.
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Midsummer Night's Dream 12/07/2008 A good friend of mine, Mako Beecken, wrote and directed this amazing Japanese language version of Shakespeare's classic. She heads the Colorado State University's Japanese Language Program - when she's not rewriting history. I volunteered to be her Paparazzo for the event. Check it out. My lighting skills have improved - in large part due to Dave Hobby (a.k.a., "The Strobist"), whose blog and DVD are brilliant, and Joe McNally, whose books and online training classes are awesome. Both of this guys I do these kinds of projects for both generous and selfish reasons (hey, I get to use these skills in my high-end technical communication projects!), but at the end of the day, its really fun and energizing. |
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Gailmarie does it again! 2,100+ folks showed up at the Opera Gallery to buy some fresh produce and to get an early start on Holiday shopping. And here're the pictures to prove it: photo gallery (all rights reserved by Be Local Northern Colorado – use freely with photo credit "Be Local Northern Colorado"). |
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Be Local Coupon Book 2007 Same as below, but even better! |
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Be Local Coupon Book 2006 The Be Local movement encourages buying and reinvesting your money (and soul) locally. I was the official volunteer "paparazzo" for the awesome work of Gailmarie Kimmel and her team. |
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Blair Leasure's Award Winning Oil Painting
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About 5 years ago, I showed a friend of mine,