The free 2015 Berea-Lexington-Richmond Solar Tour will be Saturday, October 10th, in partnership with ASES (American Solar Energy Society). This annual event provides real-life examples of how families and businesses are harnessing free energy from the sun to generate electricity, warm and cool their homes, heat water, charge their electric cars, and slash monthly utility bills.
The Berea-Lexington-Richmond Guided Solar Tour will start in Berea at 9:00 am (folks from LEX can meet at the first toured home, Richard Levine, and follow the guided bus in their own vehicle from there).
9:00 am meet at Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea (just east of I-75 at exit 77)
9:15 am: Bus departs
Fayette County
10:00 am: Arrive Richard Levine’s house
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/building-science/classic-1970s-home-goes-solar-heated-net-zero-energy
10:45 am: Depart Richard Levine’s house
11:15 am: Arrive Tom Lowery’s house (underground house with garden roof and 3.2 kW grid-tie with battery backup) and neighbor (new 10-kW grid-tie recently installed by Solar Energy Solutions).
Noon: Depart Tom Lowery’s neighborhood.
Richmond
12:30 pm: Lunch in Richmond (site to be determined—lunch cost is not included in the free tour)
1:30 pm: Depart lunch
1:45 pm: Arrive Curtis Pike Community (two homes—each with solar water heating, compost toilets, wetland grey water systems, on-site domestic water supplies with battery backup house water pressure pumps; a community house—with 1.5 kW grid-tie mounted on tracker).
2:30 pm: Depart Curtis Pike Community
Berea
3:00 pm: Arrive Berea Solar Farm http://www.bereautilities.com/?page_id=348
3:10 pm: Depart Berea Solar Farm
3:15 pm: Arrive Boyce/Maxson-Abbot solar duplex (both units with solar water heating, Boyce—2.5 kW grid tie PV, Maxson-Abbot 4.5 kW PV)
3:45 pm: Depart Boyce/Maxson-Abbot
3:50 pm: Arrive Berea College Office of Sustainability for on-hands solar site assessment.
4:15 pm: Leave Berea College Office of Sustainability.
4:30 pm: Arrive back at Kentucky Artisan Center
Optional Garrard County finale: travel as caravan w/o bus (20 minutes drive outside Berea) to tour off-grid home in Garrard County with on-site domestic water system, solar PV, solar thermal, wind turbine, wood fired boiler, large mass wood stove, in floor radiant heat, and geo-exchange.
To make a reservation (bus space is limited) or for more information contact Josh Bills (jbills@maced.org) or call 859-893-6123.