SolarFest Lights Up Shoreline Community College

From electric cars to solar-powered heating systems, Shoreline Community College was awash Saturday with gadgets and techniques to help pave a way for a more sustainable future.

The event, the Northwest SolarFest, is the biggest grassroots festival of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Now in its 8th year, SolarFest brought inventors, engineers and even an acclaimed television personality to talk about sustainabilty through technology and lifestyle choices.

One notable contributor was Graham Kerr, the "Galloping Gourmet," who hosted a cooking show and wrote several culinary books. Kerr spoke about the importance of incorporating healthy foods into a diet and ways to get children to enjoy fruits and vegetables.

Kerr is also known for his solar-cooking apparatus, which was on display along with several homemade solar-cooking gadgets. Despite a healthy cloud cover, the solar cookers were able to fry an egg, cook beans and bake a loaf of bread.

The event also brought several electric and high-mileage cars, including a car developed by Western Washington University's vehicle design program. Last year, the car nearly won the X-Prize competition for high-mileage vehicles in Michigan, but the car failed in one of the final races and was elimnated.

But the event wasn't just for adults. In the back, kids raced tiny solar-powered cars around a plastic racetrack after signing a pledge to use less energy through techniques such as turning off lights when leaving the room and taking shorter showers.

SolarFest culminated with Bellingham-based Yogoman Burning Band, who performed on stage in front of the beer garden.

Click the video to the right to see some of the displays and activities from SolarFest 2011.

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