The 2006 North Country Sustainable Energy Fair took place on May 5-7 at our new site in the SUNY Canton Campus Center and was a huge success! 1,500 enthusiastic people from as far away as Texas and Cape Cod attended 37 workshops, panels and demonstrations on topics from solar, biodiesel, wind and green building to do-it-yourself weatherization, off-grid living, climate change, peak oil and much more. In the exhibition hall, 45 exhibitors and vendors displayed the tools for sustainable living. Whether you were after solar panels, a book about cordwood masonry, efficient light bulbs, corn stoves or natural foam insulation, you could find out about it at the Fair.
SUNY-Canton President Dr. Joseph Kennedy kicked off the Fair Friday night, followed by an expert panel on biodiesel. The 200 people who attended showed strong interest in the alternative fuel. They heard about the possibility of a local manufacturing plant connected with Ag-Pro LTD, the Massena soybean oil processor, as well as do-it-yourself biodiesel making and the possiblities of a local coop. People continued to network at the reception afterwards. Doors opened at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and crowds continued to crowd the workshops and exhibit hall all day. At 11 am Saturday David Blittersdorf, CEO of NRG Systems, Inc and past president of the American Wind Energy Association, delivered the keynote address “Energy: Lifeblood of Modern Society, What is the Big Picture?” to a packed audience.
The rain did not dampen spirits. Under the outside demonstration tents people squeezed in to hear about biodiesel making, wood chip gasified lawn mowers and do-it-yourself insulation, watch how to build with cordwood and strawbale and how to create an earthen floor. They examined a fleet of alternative cars and farm vehicles run on solar, electricity, biodiesel and straight vegetable grease and heard from their owners about the experiences of converting and maintaining these vehicles.
People in the six simultaneous workshop rooms reported particularly enjoying many varied topics, among them Jerry Bartlett’s ideas for creatively off-gridding your older home, Jim Merkel’s radical suggestions for shrinking our ecological footprint, Joe Rappa’s biodiesel workshop,Rob Roy’s ever-popular Cordwood Masonry and Timber Framing for the Rest of Us and the new addition of a workshop on Preserving the Harvest by Jim and Krista Juczak.
The four local Green Home Tours on Sunday were well attended by over 100 people who got to see firsthand how their neighbors are implementing the ideas put forth at the Fair. Most of the homes they visited employed the principles of passive solar and were well-insulated and extremely energy efficient. They both off-grid and grid-tied solar homes, several homes using wind energy and pellet stoves and several constructed with strawbale. Jerry Bartlett’s tour of his older home with his creatively set-up off-grid systems, including a biodiesel generator, a dc refrigerator and washer was as popular as ever.
The 2007 Sustainable Energy Fair is tentatively planned for the weekend of April 27-29 at SUNY Canton.
We are committed to keeping this exciting educational event accessible to all. The price of admission was a $2 donation this year. We depend on the generous support of people like you who think energy education is vital to the future well-being of our society. If you would like to see the Fair continue and expand, please consider a donation, either of volunteer time or money. Checks should be made out to CES-Energy Fair and sent to: Community Energy Services, 325 Northwoods Rd., Hermon, NY 13652. To volunteer or to contact us with questions: ncenergy@slic.com or call 315-347-9466.
The annual Energy Fair is a joint project of Community Energy Services (CES), a 501-c-3 nonprofit, SUNY-Canton and Seedcorn, Inc. The Fair is a project of North Country Energy Smart Communities, a program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
Created:March 12th, 2006 - Updated: July 31st, 2006
