Eco-Tech

Energy consumption is a concern for everyone. Research into cleaner burning fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel cells and renewable energies is front page news. As consumers, there’s a lot that each of us can do. But what?

The Vashon Island Earthfair is a festival that celebrates alternatives. In the realm of energy, displays of solar panels, wind turbines, micro hydro and biodiesel vegetable oil fuel create a renewable energy park for visitors to tour. Solar hot water systems, photo voltaics with inverters and batteries, energy saving lifestyle choices and other sustainable alternatives will be at the Earthfair on August 5th and 6th.

As with energy, our environment is also in the news. The pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels in the Seattle area is a rising concern. Some of the alternatives to transportation energy will be exhibited in the Earthfair’s renewable energy park.
---

The NorthWest Solar Group, an Earthfair mainstay, will be back again this year, and for the children, they will set up a waterfall with toy boats—all powered by a solar water pump!
nwsolargroup.org

An Earthfair staple, Chris Herman, will talk about environmentally aware home design. Chris is a Certified Professional Building Designer who works with residential building design; with specialties in passive solar and sustainable (green) building design, and photovoltaic (solar electric) system design.
wintersundesign.com


Mike Pelly is the president of Olympia Green Fuels LLC. Mike has been actively involved in the biodiesel field since 1995 and in the development of various forms of renewable energies for over 20 years. His work in biodiesel includes writing a recipe on how-to make biodiesel that was posted at the website www.journeytoforever.org in Spring of 2000 and has been read by millions. It is now translated in 4 languages and has been the springboard for learning to produce biodiesel for many people around the world.
www.olympiagreenfuels.com

Solar Richard Thompson will be back with all sorts of Solar and LED displays … including the solar powering of the Casbah stage and the Admissions area. (Thanks Richard!) Richard owns Tacoma’s “first solar grid-tied home with an array of more than 1,500 watts of dual-axis solar tracking moving right before your eyes.” And he sells really neat LED Christmas lights.
www.solarrichard.com

Andy Cochrane and Steve Carr are based in Port Townsend and design renewable energy systems for your home or business. Power Trip Energy Company will help you implement these renewable energy systems and is capable of contributing to your project in all phases from initial planning through implementation and performance tracking.
www.powertripenergy.com






Doug Starfield is joining us from Newport Hydrogen, and will teach us all about hydrogen fuel cells. Here's how the Renewable Hydrogen cycle works: electricity from photovoltaic panels and wind turbines may be used to run an electrolyzer, a device which splits water (H20) into its elemental parts, hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). The oxygen is released into the air and the hydrogen is pumped into storage tanks, where it can be kept on site or transported to sun-poor regions.
At night, when solar energy is not available, the hydrogen is recombined with oxygen from the air in a fuel cell, an electrochemical power plant that directly converts the chemical energy in hydrogen into electricity. The only byproduct of this process is pure water.
www.newporthydrogen.com
www.nfcep.org

On Saturday, we are pleased to welcome two experts from Washington State Ferries who will be answering questions about the Washington State Ferries' Clean Fuel Initiatives and Pilot Tests. In 2004 WSF took major steps to reduce air pollution from its ferry fleet. Ferries have traditionally used high-sulfur diesel fuel, and in the Puget Sound area, diesel exhaust is a major source of air pollution. In addition to testing biodiesel fuel, the initiatives included two other programs that are still underway.
In June 2005, Washington State Ferries suspended a pilot test of biodiesel on the Fauntleroy-Southworth-Vashon ferry route while it investigates why the fuel is clogging the vessels’ engine filters. Since the beginning of the project, WSF has burned a total of 142,000 gallons of biodiesel.
www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries

Mark Yelken (The Worm Guy) will have workshops both Saturday and Sunday on the benefits of worm castings, and setting up worm composting bins at home.
vashonwormguy.com

Robert Bornn and Laura Worth will join us from LifeSense Institute here on Vashon Island discussing the Vashon Energy Project. They will demonstrate new solar heating technologies and service innovations for affordable earth-friendly habitation, non-polluting energy sources, and improvements in organic food production (e.g., solar heated, year-round greenhouses) suitable for Vashon-Maury Island and beyond that experience seasonal limitations to solar exposure.
www.buildingcircles.org

Meg Gluckman joins us from the Vashon-based Institute for Environmental Research and Education. IERE is a nonprofit organization that supports environmental decision making based on factual information. We obtain and help others obtain the knowledge and skills they need to make better environmental decisions.

Our display will highlight IERE's comprehensive building-energy study of Vashon, which included quantifying how much energy the island uses, what can be saved through conservation measures, and the renewable energy potential of the island. The study concluded that with widespread conservation, the island could supply all of its building
energy needs through local renewable energy.

Additionally, the display will include information on the proposed Vashon Public Utility District. The Vashon PUD is an initiative that will be voted on by Vashon residents this fall and if passed will supply the island with conservation and renewable energy services. Stop by and find out more about the energy study and the PUD!!
www.iere.org


Our world turns on energy. And there are many alternatives to the fossil fuels that we now rely on. Global conflicts, climate change and economic concerns are some of the many reasons to explore renewable, sustainable alternatives. So come to the Earthfair to see what’s on the cutting edge!

Created on 2005-04-28 00:20:38 by kbates Updated on 2006-07-30 07:43:16 by radar