How do I use the email component from a model in CakePHP?

$this->Email->delivery = 'smtp';
$this->Email->template = 'default';
$this->Email->sendAs = 'text';
$this->Email->from    = 'email';
$this->Email->to      = 'email';
$this->Email->subject = 'Error';

App::import('Component', 'Email');

function _sendMail($to,$subject,$template) {
    $this->Email->to = $to;
    // $this->Email->bcc = array('[email protected]'); // copies
    $this->Email->subject = $subject;
    $this->Email->replyTo = '[email protected]';
    $this->Email->from = 'MyName <[email protected]>';
    $this->Email->template = $template;
    $this->Email->sendAs = 'text'; //Send as 'html', 'text' or 'both' (default is 'text')
    $this->Email->send();
}

$this->_sendMail($this->data['User']['email'],'Thanks for registering!','register');

var $components = array('Email');

function sendEmail(&$controller) {
    App::import('Component', 'Email');
    $email = new EmailComponent();
    $email->startup($controller);
}

var $components = array('Email');

$this->Email->delivery = ...

if(empty($this->MailsController)) {
    App::import('Controller','Mails');
    $this->MailsController = new MailsController();
    $this->MailsController->constructClasses();
    $this->MailsController->Email->startup($this->MailsController);
}

$this->MailsController->orderMail($user_id,$this->id,$mode);