The Earth needs new models for settlement, in which the fight between humans and the fight between humans and nature can be effectively ended.

During an international event from October 16 to 18, the first test field for the establishment of a "SolarVillage" will be presented. It is a technological, ecological and social model which is to provide a perspective of sustainability and self-sufficiency of energy and food for the various forms of future settlement.

An important contribution to this consists of research into decentralized energy systems using a solar technology that is independent of big industry. Such a system is currently being assembled in Tamera to create an initial Solar Village test field that will be tested in practice and presented to the public. The overall plan for the establishment of worldwide peace villages will also be presented within this framework.

What is the SolarVillage?

The SolarVillage is a planned self-sufficient and generally applicable model solar village for peace villages, to be established on 5 hectares of the property at Tamera. Here, technological, ecological, social and ethical principles for a future without war are to be tested and realized. The Solar Power Village technologies of the inventor and physicist Jürgen Kleinwächter constitute the core of the energy technology for the SolarVillage. He and his team have developed the individual components of this technology during the past 30 years. What is special about the Solar Power Village is its relative independence from systems that are manufactured by big industry and its versatile usability that is appropriate for the lifestyle of a village. The energy is generated where it is needed. It is a technology that can fulfill a village's need for energy self-sufficiency, thereby conserving resources. The size of the planned SolarVillage encompasses a settlement unit of 50 people. At the same time it will be a research station with technologies that are used practically and are continuously developed further by a group of people. Jürgen Kleinwächter: "This gives rise to pragmatic solutions that can be used in the future and that at the same time improve the quality of life. Tamera is cooperating with the mountain farmer and permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer from Austria regarding the renaturation of the landscape and the establishment of horticulture biotopes. In 2007 the first large retention basins for a planned water landscape were constructed in Tamera. Their purpose is to keep the water from the winter rains on the property. The water that is stored in the earth increases the fertility and regenerative power of the surrounding landscape. Wetlands are created on the terraces and around the expanses of water, and they have become habitats for animals, edible landscapes and forest gardens with fruit and nut trees, vegetables, herbs and supporting plants. Already now many domestic animals and plants have returned to this area. The original dream of the landscape of Southern Portugals can again be seen and felt. The spell of ignorance and destruction that lies over nature in many places in Europe is slowly dissolving.

The SolarVillage will be embedded into the planned water landscape, and a water facility is being created that will be used for technological experiments (for example "hot lake" or flow research).

A center for research and education in non-violent technology will be created within the framework of the SolarVillage. For this we have chosen the temporary name TTT: Technology, Training and Transfer. Here, innovators from many disciplines can reflect together, have exchanges and conduct research. This applies especially also to research pioneers who do not receive attention elsewhere or those whose work is even suppressed. Tamera is expanding its cooperation in this regard to include social and humane knowledge from the many years of community research.

Concretely: Establishing a Test Field

The next step for the establishment of the SolarVillage is the test field that is currently being created in the valley village of Tamera. For this, the energy greenhouse and the solar kitchen in the Solar Power Village will be combined with Scheffler mirrors, SK14 parabola mirror stoves and box cookers to create a solar summer kitchen. The system will not only produce heat for cooking; with the help of a Stirling motor, it will also generate both electricity and mechanical energy. The latter will be used for pumping water, for example for irrigation. Later in the year, the system will also integrate oxygen-enriched burning, according to the concepts of Horst Wagner, and a biogas plant. Beginning in August, about 50 people will be living experimentally in the test field, using the new technical components.

Public Presentations

During the informational weekend of August 1 – 2, 2009, entitled "Local Solutions for Global Challenges", the technology and the initial stage of expansion can be toured within the framework of the Tamera Summer University.

From October 16 – 18 the test field will then be presented to interested sponsors and backers. We invite you to a visionary information meeting regarding the topic "Investing in the Future".
We look forward to a varied program and many opportunities to have exchanges. Among other things the children's play will be performed again. Jürgen Kleinwächter will present the Solar Power Village technology within the framework of an overall solar perspective. In this connection, Sabine Lichtenfels and the supporters of the SolarVillage will present the overall plan of peace villages, as well as the possibilities to support it financially. We are seeking sponsors who no longer wish to invest their money in the systems of destruction, but know that the best investment is to create an overall alternative.

With Barbara Kovats and the SolarVillage Team

Costs: 120,- Euro including presentation, community lodgings with own sleeping bag and vegan board.

More information: solarvillage (at) tamera.org

Registration: office@tamera.org or +351 -

This year, 2009, we want to take the next big step of setting up a "test-field" for the planned TTT-Platform and the SolarVillage, which will be established on a special place within Tamera.

During the first four months of this year, the SolarVillage project group focused on the development of a solid and humane foundation, where trust among the coworkers can continuously go deeper, and increasingly reliable and professional working structures of communication and cohabitation can emerge.

Our next step is the construction of this “test-field” in the current “Valley Village” along the lines of the “African Village” designed by Jürgen Kleinwächter.

Our short-term goal is to set up the “Solar Power Village” technology. This technology creates synergy, is relatively simple to build, and thus represents a valuable and integral part of the overall solar system both ecologically and economically. Our plan is to try it out in practice and improve it in the daily life of the SolarVillage Project Group. This approach follows the basic idea of the SolarVillage concept, that a group of about fifty people will live an experimental life with the new technical components. The core element of the "Solar Power Village", the Energy Power
Greenhouse with the hot-oil kitchen, will be combined with a Scheffler
reflector, parabolic mirror cookers SK14, and solar ovens - all
components of the solar summer kitchen.

Apart from the production of heat for cooking, the hot oil produced in the greenhouse will also drive a Stirling engine that can produce electricity as well as mechanical energy. Later we also plan to integrate O₂ combustion (according to the ideas of Horst Wagner) and a biogas system to complement these installations.

This “test-field” project is the next step on the way to developing the SolarVillage: The technology, and the communitarian way of living that we experienced during this recent four-month intensive group time, complement each other to create a single living entity. By autumn we will have tangible results and measured values resulting from this practical experiment, as well as a showcase to demonstrate the combination of these two elements that can be shown to visitors.

In autumn we will also organize a special kind of “Investors' Event” for a select group of people with broad views and financial power. We plan to give an insight into the actual daily life as it will work in and around a SolarVillage, and one goal of the event is to find investors for the continued development of the SolarVillage concept and the TTT-Platform.

Another part of this year's experiment is the integration of the nearby "Valley Garden" into the growing water landscape built in cooperation with the Tamera ecology team under the auspices of permaculture expert and “Rebel farmer” Sepp Holzer.

We kindly invite you to contribute to the manifestation of this experimental living model. The financing of the test field SolarVillage will cost about 73,000 Euro. Donations of any amount are warmly welcome.

We are also very interested in the help of experts who want to participate in the practical construction and development of this experiment. We ask those interested to contact us for further information.

Roland Luder
for the SolarVillage Project Group