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Community Corner

SolarFest Shines on Shoreline

Eighth annual event July 16 features something for everyone

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday July 16, Shoreline Solar Project (SSP) will hold the eighth annual Northwest SolarFest at Shoreline Community College. The Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair will have a live band, about 100 booths and a beer garden.

SolarFest started in 2004 at Meridian Park School with about 20 booths to celebrate the photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system being placed on the music building. The event has steadily grown.

“Every year we have added more depth and more breadth to it,” Fair Coordinator Maryn Wynne said. 

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Now the largest renewable energy event in the Puget Sound area without a corporate body running it, SolarFest is a local grassroots event. 

 “We are really truly local,” Wynne said. “And extremely proud of being in Shoreline.”

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 After taking a course on solar energy in 2003, SSP President Larry Owens realized that his daughter’s school would be the perfect site for a PV system. After installing the solar system at no cost to the school, it now sustains the music building. Over the summer the meter runs backwards, feeding power back into the system and earning Meridian Park a credit to offset the costs of powering the building when in use during the school year.

The eight modules are the same size that would be used on the average home. Owens isn’t looking for the people of Shoreline to convert to solar power, however. Small incremental changes like using more energy efficient light bulbs and using the family’s more fuel efficient vehicle a couple more days a week will save residents money and lower their carbon footprint. 

“For me that is a huge win,” Owens said.

Owens thinks that a number of the exhibits will make NW SolarFest fun for all. There will be electric cars from a Chevy Volt to a Tesla; Graham Kerr, TV’s Galloping Gourmet will give his first public demonstration on solar cooking; and there will be a Kid’s Zone and a giveaway of mini solar cars for the first 300 kids.

The president of E-N-ergy will be on hand to demonstrate the Be-h desktop plastic to oil system all day. A small portable unit will convert 2 pounds of plastic bags and bottles one-third gallon of usable fuel every 2-3 hours. 

SolarFest already attracts people to Shoreline, but the organizers hope to draw in those that don’t see themselves as part of the green movement.

“We hope the beer garden will do that,” Wynne joked.

Already she thinks that many people are doing something green and don’t even know it. One person can’t be expected to save the planet alone, but if each person recycles the can of soda and takes a reusable bag to the store, Wynne says the cumulative effect is large.

“What the individual does adds to the collective,” Wynne said. “We all make an impact on the earth.”

NW SolarFest opens at 10 a.m. the exhibits close at 6 p.m. when the after party starts with Yogoman Burning Band. Food and the Sierra Nevada Brewing beer garden will run until the event ends at 8 p.m.

“Come to see what is out there, not just solar,” Owens said. 

For more information see the links below: 

Be-h desktop http://e-n-ergy.blogspot.com/2011/02/be-h-desktop-plastic-to-oil-machine.html

Meridian Park School solar project http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/light/Green/greenPower/Accomplishments/meridian.asp

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