Larry Owens sent this summary of the Shoreline Renewable Energy Fair held on June 12, 2004 at the Meridian Park School
Greetings,
Shoreline's 1st Annual Renewable Energy Fair was a wonderful success. I
estimate around 300-400 visitors dropped by during the day, and the weather
cooperated perfectly: no rain until just after the last exhibitor packed up for
the day! Those of you who "Thought Sunshine" did your job to perfection.
Solar and Alternative fuel vehicles were major themes of the day, but not the
only ones. Energy efficiency, conservation, and responsible energy practices
and policies were also highlighted. The Meridian Park 3rd Graders' projects
were on display, and students were there to talk about them with visitors. All
in all, a very good event.
Our focus (as Shoreline Solar Project) was to help the community become more
aware of responsible energy choices, and to learn how to get and use various
renewable energy products. We also encouraged strong support for the school and
community efforts to expand renewables.
There was ample opportunity to speak with the exhibitors to learn more about the
vehicles; some are available right now, some required conversions (Electric Geo
Metro!), and the biodiesels just require pumping biodiesel into the tank instead
of "regular" diesel. I can't wait for the day when clean biodiesel is the
"regular" fuel, and petroleum based polluters are the "alternative" fuels.
Which makes more sense to you?
Vehicles included: Natural Gas (1), Electric (4), hybrid (2), biodiesel (3),
electric motor assisted bicycle, solar powered scooters(3) and mini-bike.
Another big hit was the Segway which visitors got a chance to ride!
Solar exhibits included:
Solar PV (Photovoltaic) mounted on a service van ready to go, flexible solar
'panels' which can be rolled up and carried in your backpack, roof/pole mounted
solar modules for electricity, solar hot water, solar bubble making machine (the
kids enjoyed this one), and a lot of solar powered items from radios to
scooters to a solar powered massage chair!
We will be posting an exhibitors list as well as further references
(links) on our website, which is being put together right now. As of this
writing, our site is not yet up and running, but it should be functional within
about a week, or less. (Hosting is courtesy of 4DReality.com)
A special thanks to the volunteers who helped both before the event and during
it! Your help made this event run smoothly and without a hitch.
The presentations were another strong focus for the day. Great information and
Q & A time allowed everyone to get answers or leads about all the topics
covered.
Perhaps the best part was meeting others who are interested in expanding the use
of renewable energy. We met with teachers from several other schools in the
district who are interested in exploring PV for their schools. We also were
quite pleased to see several city council members attend as well as from the
school board! Biodiesel for school buses was a recurring topic during the day,
and its one of the SSP's priority projects.
The planning for next year's event will start later this summer. If you'd like
to be involved in that process, please let us know. We want to do even better
next time.
Final Comment:
We'd really like to encourage you to support the Shoreline Solar Project with
your membership. (If you're already a member, THANK YOU!). We'd like to add
100 new members during July-August; can you be 1 of those? If you need a
membership form, write:
info@ShorelineSolar.org and we'll send one off to you. Thank you!
Larry Owens
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Memberships to:
"Shoreline Solar Project" MEMBERSHIPS
16003 Meridian Ave N. Student: $3 Family: $15
Shoreline, WA 98133 Individual $10 Business: $25