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Highlights of Our History
Our HistoryAn accurate portrayal of the history of the Green Geek SquadTM requires an understanding of Advanced Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (AES). The Green Geek Squad is a part of the operations of AES. To fully understand AES is to know the history of Aur Beck, the Chief Technician for AESsolar (a division of Advanced Energy Solutions Group, Inc.) In 1989 Home Power magazine published an article asking for energy fairs. The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee was one of the first three energy fairs that started to bring together the work and efforts of people in the Renewable Energy field. Aur lived in Tennessee at that time and became seriously exposed to Renewable Energy at the fair at The Farm. Built on The Farm was one of the earliest all passive-solar schools ever. Aur lived right next to The Farm and learned how important Renewable Energy is from the high percentage of people in the region who lived off the grid. He followed his passion and dedicated his life to the study of renewable energy. By 1990 Aur moved into a 12 volt, two watt battery operated camper and experienced life off the grid for the first time. In 1993 he upgraded to 50 watts of solar power and increased his commitment to a personally sustainable energy future. In 1998 Aur went to the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair for the first time and has gone every year since. In his first year Aur realized that because he had been so committed to his studies of renewable energy he actually knew as much as some of the “experts” at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. In that first year, Aur participated in a pre-fair installation workshop and confirmed that he was ready to go into business. That year he started a company called “Alternative Transportation & Energy”. The primary job included repairing bicycles. At that time Aur started to became known as ‘Da energy mon’ and to become one of the youngest techs in the country at 24 years of age. In 1999; Aur started the“Your Community Spirit” weekly Radio Show ( www.YourCommunitySpirit.org ) on WDBX ( www.WDBX.org ) radio in Southern Illinois, which is an educational component of the company. Help found Southern Sustainability (full name: the Southern Illinois Center for a Sustainable Future) which is an environmental & energy education non for profit. Summer of 1999; Installed our first larger system; a PV/Wind/Generator system on Dayempur Farm for power production and backup power. Once Aur acquired a business partner, they started Advanced Energy Solutions, Inc and by April, 2000 the company was fully incorporated. That year they helped power the 30th Earth Day celebration with an off-grid solar system. 2001 off grid solar powered Earth Day including a giant spinning globe. June, 2000 Aur ran the first booth for AES at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair ( www.the-MREA.org ) and has had a booth there every year since. The business became fully self-sufficient by 2002 along with installing our first battery-less straight grid tie system and Aur’s main focus became AES. Once the business was able to sustain itself Aur started attending more renewable energy fairs and expo’s all over the Midwest and consequentially expanded service into more states in the Midwest. One of the main components of AES is education. 2002 helped found the Illinois Renewable Energy Association (and has been on the board since) which puts on the state energy fair every year with about 75 workshops and many vendors and displays. In 2004 Aur started running workshops, seminars, and made educational systems to demonstrate directly how renewable energy works. 2005 AESsolar won the Missouri Solar Going Solar contract and assisted with the sale and installation of nine systems. We won the bid again in 2006 and installed eight more systems. These systems not only helped expand the scope of AES, but helped with the educational component of the business because the students at these Missouri schools were a part of the process. The Green Geek SquadTM was registered in the Fall of 2007 and the company name changed to the more accurate Advanced Energy Solutions Group, Inc as the network of renewable energy installers began to be able to sell and install systems in a larger area in the greater Midwest. Aur coined the term “Green Dexter”. 2007 Aur became the President of Southern Sustainability. His work with the non-profit has helped him advertise for AES and make connections in the larger Southern Illinois region. January of 2008, Aur expanded this work and became a trained presenter for Al Gore's Climate Project Feb 2008 Powered the Pepsi® Amp Super Bowl Party in the Phoenix stadium parking lot with an off-grid bicycle-generated power party.Click here to see Technical video of the project 2008; Hoosier Energy in Indiana hired Advanced Energy Solutions in 2008 to conduct hundreds of energy audits (10% of their customers) for an energy efficiency program that led to him making many more connections to energy industry professionals. April 2008 premiers Da Blog Mon, our regular blog on our website. 2009 as a 10th biz anniversary present we built a solar trailer that has a full off-grid solar system that allows us to travel around and educate people about the feasibility of solar systems. When people go inside the trailer they can look at the entire system and learn about the different system components as well as LED lighting. The trailer has PV modules on the roof that collect power into a bank of batteries. The Solar Education and Portable Power trailer has been used to power several sound systems at various fairs and for our training classes. May 8th 2009 First ever recorded in-land huricane hits Carbondale IL area with thousands out of power. One week later the debut of our Two week Intermediate 1 & 2 (one semester course fast tracked) taught at John A Logan College with the NABCEP PV Entry Level test as the final. Throughout 2009 and 2010 the emphasis on education and job training has increased and will continue to increase as Aur has taught more and more solar classes at community colleges like John A. Logan community college in Carterville, IL and the Green Institute at the Heartland Community College in Normal, IL. He plans to continue to increase the classes offered to train installers to make them eligible to sit for the NABCEP PV Entry Level Test. In the Summer of 2009 Aur planned the Shawnee Energy Festival outside Carbondale, IL where the sound system was powered off grid solar, the debut of our Mobile Solar Power & Training solar trailer, taught workshops, organized various green business vendors, recruited other workshop teachers, and found customers interested in purchasing renewable energy systems. The first Shawnee Energy Festival was a celebration of 10 years of business for AES. The festival will be an annual celebration of renewable energy for people in Southern Illinois to come together and learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy and be able to find and purchase resources to become more sustainable. June 2009 Had a double booth at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair celebrating 10 years of being in business & of having a booth at the Fair. Gave out many goodies and toys and shirts and smiles thanking all the friends and customers. Feb 2010 Put up links to all the major social networking sites up on the AES website. June 2010 Aur is picked to join the Midwest
Solar Training Network (part of the Midwest Renewable Energy
Association). |
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