concepts · updated 2026-07-19
Nick Pine
confidence: low volatility: cold verified: 2026-07-19fresh
Nick Pine (Villanova University) is a solar-DIY correspondent who, in a July 1995 Usenet post, transcribed and preserved extensive passages of Steve Baer's Sunspots air-loop rock-storage chapter -- including a 15-rule design guide for convective solar chimneys not otherwise present in this archive's own 1975 Sunspots transcription.
A solar-DIY correspondent affiliated with Villanova University (nick@vu-vlsi.ee.vill.edu), active on Usenet solar/energy newsgroups (alt.solar.thermal, alt.energy.renewable, sci.engr.heat-vent-ac) in the mid-1990s.
The 1995 post
On July 26, 1995, Pine posted an extensive transcription from Steve Baer’s Sunspots, quoting the book’s air-loop rock-storage chapter (pp. 62–66) at length. His citation confirms a 1979 Cloudburst Press edition of Sunspots (ISBN 0-88930-062-3, subtitled “An Exploration of Solar Energy Through Fact and Fiction”) — distinct from the 1975 Zomeworks Corporation first edition (“Collected Facts and Solar Fiction”) this archive holds. Pine’s post preserves content not present in the archive’s own 1975 transcription, including a 15-rule practical design guide for convective solar chimneys (flow-path sizing, rock depth, collector slant, insulation, glazing, and venting rules) and physics detail on solar-chimney self-balancing behavior.
Why it matters for this archive
An independent, dated (1995) preservation of primary Baer material from an edition this archive doesn’t hold — the archived text confirms details like the 14-foot solar chimney height at the original Drop City heater and the Paul Davis House’s convective air-loop system, corroborating facts otherwise known only from the AIA slideshow and other secondary sources.
Unknown
No biography beyond the Usenet affiliation and university email domain; whether Pine had any direct contact with Baer is not documented.