concepts · updated 2026-08-10
Life Technic conference (1972)
confidence: medium volatility: cold verified: 2026-08-10fresh
The first 'Life Technic' conference was hosted at Ghost Ranch (Abiquiu, New Mexico) in 1972 by NMSEA's three founders — Keith Haggard, Peter Van Dresser, and Steve Baer — with over 50 members attending to share information about solar energy. Its proceedings became NMSEA's first official publication.
The first “Life Technic” conference was held in 1972 at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico — the founding event of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. It was hosted by NMSEA’s three founders: Keith Haggard (whom the ASES regional history calls “the principal founder”), Peter Van Dresser, and Steve Baer.
Per NMSEA’s own history, the founders hosted the conference “with over 50 other members to share information about solar energy,” and the conference proceedings became NMSEA’s first official publication. The Corrales Comment obituary for Baer records the same event as part of the 1972 NMSEA founding at Ghost Ranch; the ASES regional history spells it “Life Technics.”
The conference sits at the institutional root of New Mexico’s passive-solar movement: the organization it launched went on to design the Sun-dwellings at Ghost Ranch (design team meeting in Santa Fe from 1973, with Van Dresser as lead and Baer on the team), and Van Dresser served as NMSEA’s first president.
See also
- New Mexico Solar Energy Association — founded at this event
- Ghost Ranch — venue
- Steve Baer — co-host
- Peter Van Dresser — co-host, first NMSEA president
- Keith Haggard — co-host, principal founder
- Index