Today we’d like to introduce you to Tad Snyder.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tad. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The years leading up to the inception of SolarBeatz were filled with personal development culminating with a challenge to create a community project. While attending Burning Man in 2008/2009 I was appalled by the amount of squandered wealth on flashy, fuel-guzzling “art cars” (with noisy, stinky generators) that sat idle for 51 weeks of the year. It was my intention to break the status quo by using solar technology to build an art car with the yearlong purpose of promoting clean energy and sustainability education.
I felt the need to help guide the public environmental “greenwashing” conversation (and confusion) that regurgitated fear and ignorance to create a market for new products that weren’t really that much better than the ones they replaced. One of my goals was to create a fun, engaging experience that inspired a more encouraging view of the future by highlighting the good examples of things going on globally to influence positive change in their local ecosystems (i.e. permaculture addressing desertification, urban farming, etc).
Once I started sharing the basic concepts and ideas behind SolarBeatz I received lots of confused looks. I was told that it would take at least a year to design and a million dollars to build. I was a lot younger then, impatient and out to prove a point. I didn’t have time, money or powerful personal network on my side. I was a transplant in a big city and I didn’t really know who to go to for help. My vision did not allow for a standard business type revenue generation scheme so I knew getting money from investors was not an option and I settled into the idea of a nonprofit organization. I figured if I could not offer a financial return on investment that I could offer a tax write-off and “good feels” via donation to our charitable efforts.
Moving forward with my community project I inspired a small team of friends to meet weekly to assemble resources. We hosted several events to raise start-up capital while I personally set up the 501c3 nonprofit entity and shopped for the ideal vehicle to transform into a self-propelled solar-powered “edutainment” experience. This was all going on while I worked full-time 50+ hrs/week as a sales engineer focusing on sustainability in industrial utility systems. Seven months after deciding to tackle this enormous and daunting project we had our 501c3 status approved by the federal government and raised $17,000 the old fashioned way, without an online crowdfunding campaign.
Two months after that we acquired our current vehicle, an old heavy duty newspaper truck from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. And three months later we were on the road to Burning Man with a shell of what I had envisioned. That first year was really rough but educational, and each year’s challenges since then helped us evolve as a machine, and as people. Today the technical and artistic components of SolarBeatz have come a long way! I am very proud of our accomplishments and grateful for the contributions the community has made to the organization. Without our volunteers, particularly my now wife, the SolarBeatz experience would not exist.
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh my, too many to list! It’s been obstacle after obstacle but each one made me more prepared for the next.
The very first hurdle was just conquering the fear and commitment it takes to venture into the unknown with limited resources. In my mind I always told myself that I could do anything I wanted but approaching 30 years old I felt trapped. I was working my butt off on a solid career path but I didn’t feel like I had a purpose. I had no voice and I was fearful of what the future held in store. This project was a major push to change that and it’s been the pinnacle of knowing who I am, what I want and my limitations. The internal struggles of managing relationships, expectations, personal time, life events, sense of purpose and emotions are the heart of the battle and ultimately the biggest reward.
As a start-up non-profit one of the biggest operational challenges is inspiring and retaining volunteers. The community around this project has been excellent for personal development and a springboard for many of the incredible team members to launch into the new opportunities, often in other parts of the country. While its exciting for me to play a role in others development it is also a loss to our organization. We’re continually building the community around the project and are always looking for volunteers to take on responsibility in leadership roles.
From a technical standpoint, SolarBeatz, being the only creation of its kind, I had no real reference point for how to integrate all of the technically complex systems, particularly into this format, on a truck! It’s not like a food truck, there’re lots of those to look at! There have been a lot of exciting “back to the drawing board” moments, which added to construction time, but never any significant or catastrophic failures.
Also, as a unique, niche application we have struggled to find our place in between industries with greatly differing values. Most people in the entertainment industry don’t want to pay more for clean energy and other environmentally aware nonprofit and community events do not have a budget to support such an elaborate experience.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The nonprofit, named GOBI (global opportunity for being inspiration [in]) Energy Transformation Project, operates SolarBeatz as a charitable program based in public engagement promoting clean energy and providing awareness of global sustainability issues. We seek partnership with other environmentally compassionate entities as well as the mainstream entertainment industry to bring sustainability to a new audience via “the ultimate exhibition of clean energy”, SolarBeatz, a mobile solar-powered art installation and performance stage.
The onboard solar technology eliminates the need for petroleum-fueled generators and can store the energy in a massive battery bank for use after dark. The system was designed specifically to meet the demands of a weekend gathering rain or shine, day and night. We’re best known for our sunset DJ sets at Burning Man (available on SoundCloud) and appearances at Chicago based music festivals. I’m really proud of the community that has emerged to support this project, as well as, the artistic design collaboration with local artist Christopher Breedlove and the overall technical prowess of “the machine”. Try finding another truck with 4kW of solar power that can power a 10,000 watt sound system!
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
It would be easier to say if I actually knew what industry we fall into! I think we’re the only nonprofit doing what we do. The Midwest is not the best place for a solar powered outdoor installation but being mobile provides us the opportunity to seek sun elsewhere in the winter. There are several solar stages bouncing around the US but we’re really more of an art installation with stage characteristics to support an evolving conversation around sustainability.
The mobile solar concept spreading, slowly. I personally provided some consultation for a solar DJ rig that should be popping up in Lake Tahoe soon. It can be profitable with the right business model but I expect limited expansion until we see advancements in energy storage solutions and reduced cost of thin film flexible solar panels will be the next big shift in allowing this concept to flourish.
For us, we’re moving away from donation generation as a “solar stage for rent” to a more unique value proposition as an educational experience using sound and imagery to inspire a deeper connection to our source of life; Sun, Earth, and consciousness. In addition, our relationship with Burners Without Borders may lead to SolarBeatz being outfitted to support disaster relief efforts.
Artistically, we’ve been working with the creators of NatureSpace to offer a holographic sound experience using quadraphonic speaker arrangement to shift peoples perceptions using the full potential of sound, something most people have never experienced. We’ve experimented with this a bit and it has drawn the best reaction that I’ve ever heard of from all of the productions we’ve put on. After laying on the ground experiencing a live-performance digital sound journey a doctor friend sat up and said “I want to live a better life” and subsequently wrote down several pages of notes on thoughts she accumulated during the sound journey.
Sound is a very powerful and potentially healing force that has been largely neglected as such or abused. We hope to be a leader in high-intensity full immersion auditory experiences. This will be best achieved through our long-term plan of developing a 53 foot long all-electric semi version of the Solarbeatz concept. Regardless of where this experiment takes us, I feel good about proving the feasibility of the concept and the people I’ve met along the way.
Pricing:
- Donation for full production is $2,500- 5,000 per day
Contact Info:
- Website: www.solarbeatz.com
- Phone: 630-688-4132
- Email: info@gobiproject.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/solarbeatz
- Facebook: facebook.com/solarbeatz
- Twitter: twitter.com/solarbeatztruck
Image Credit:
Bianca Snyder
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