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The 12th annual North Country Sustainable Energy Fair, upstate New York’s largest energy education event, took place on April 27-29, 2007 at the SUNY Canton Campus Center. This year 1,300 people attended the Fair from as far away as Rochester, Ithaca, Buffalo and New England. This Fair was our largest, most varied, well-organized and in depth so far. Some comments about the 2007 Fair:
“Awesome diversity of information! I now know much more than I did and will use the information in my daily life.”
“Got many practical ideas and plans for the future.”
“Green energy all in one place! Well-selected, knowledgeable and experienced presenters who live what they’re talking about!”
“Inspiring to meet like-minded folks actually doing things to change their lives! I loved the community feeling.”
“Best Fair yet and I’ve been to all of them!”
FRIDAY SCIENCE FAIR & PANELS
The Energy Fair opened Friday morning with a wildly successful Energy and Environmental Science Fair for students in grades 4-12. There were 80 entries and 220 young people attended. Prizes were awarded in three different age categories and winning projects were displayed at the Fair.
Friday afternoon there was a panel presentation CHANGE IN THE WIND: Community Considerations for Wind Power Development featuring Keith Pitman, President of Empire State Wind Energy, Robert Juravich, Executive Director of the Development Authority of the North Country and Kevin McAuliffe, an attorney who represented towns in their negotiations with the Maple Ridge Wind Power development.
Friday night in the theater the Fair officially opened with a panel presentation HOW TO BE A CONSUMER OF BIOENERGY. The panel participants presented a new picture of the future in which the North Country would produce and use its own biodiesel, ethanol, methane and grass and wood pellets for heating, energy and transportation. Its farmers would grow a variety of feedstocks, such as canola, soybeans, switchgrass and willow or use the waste from cows. New businesses would crush, process or compact these crops and produce biofuels on a commercial level. Pollution-free, locally produced fuels will not happen unless we as consumers can create demand for them. Biodiesel 20 heating fuel is already available in our area and it was suggested that we begin by ordering it next winter.
SATURDAY WORKSHOPS & EXHIBITS
Doors opened Saturday, April 28th at 9 and things were busy until they closed at 5. The 43 workshops, panels and demonstrations were packed with people eager to find ways, both small and large, to make changes in their lives that will save energy, boost our country’s national security and help our environment. Included for the first time this year were longer 1.5 hour workshops that got rave reviews. We also scheduled in a half-hour lunch break and had full food service in the cafeteria all day.
There were a variety of new and exciting workshops this year. In addition to solar, wind, green building, climate change, off-grid and grid-tied living and biodiesel, people learned about The Limits Principle, Bioheat in your Furnace, Eating Locally, How To Build a $20,000 Off-Grid House, How To Save Energy and Money in Your Home, How To Put Together a Cheaper Solar System, Municipal Power, Grass Pelleting, Hydropower in the New York, Sustainability on the College Campus, Energy, Environment and Faith and much more!This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Gay Canough. She is a master trainer and nationally certified solar photovoltaics installer and treasurer of the NY Solar Energy Industries Association. Gay is a prime mover in the New York solar scene and an excellent speaker. Her talk, A Polar Bear Ate My SUV and Other Excuses, looked at why we Americans, who have the world’s largest carbon footprint, can come up with an endless list of excuses as to why we cannot live more sustainably. Gay illuminated the mind-set holding us back and helped people start to think of sustainable living as achievable.
The Exhibit Hall was open from 9 to 5 on Saturday with 54 exhibitors and vendors. Whether people were after solar panels, a book about cordwood masonry, how to offset the CO2 you produce driving your car, more efficient light bulbs, rented solar systems, corn stoves, natural foam insulation, peak oil groups, alternative vehicles or biodiesel coops, they were able to find the answers at the Fair.
GREEN HOME TOURS
On Sunday, six guided Green Home Tours featuring over 20 homes in Canton, Potsdam, Pyrites, Parishville/Colton, Watertown and a special off-grid tour, allowed people to see firsthand how their neighbors are implementing the ideas put forth at the Fair. Most of the homes visited employed the principles of passive solar, super-insulation and energy efficient. There were both off-grid and grid-tied solar photovoltaics, homes using wind energy, hydropower and pellet stoves and several constructed with strawbale and cordwood masonry. Everyone loved crazy Jerry Bartlett’s tour of his older Colton home with a creatively set-up off-grid solar system, biodiesel and bicycle generators biodiesel vehicles, including a motorcycle, dc refrigerator, inexpensive wood hot water system, plus super efficient washer and wring dryer and the latest addition, a windmill.
LONGER HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS NEW THIS YEAR
Also on Sunday,the Fair added three-hour HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS. The workshop topics were: Make Your Own Biodiesel, Make a Bicycle Generator, Make a Solar Food Dryer and Cordwood Masonry Building with Rob Roy.
See workshop power points on the 2007 Presentations page. Please go there for more details and information.
We are committed to keeping this exciting educational event accessible to all. The price of admission was a suggested $5 donation for adults. We depend on the generous support of people like you, who think energy education is vital to the future well-being of our society and our planet.
VOLUNTEERS AND SPONSORS KEEP THE ENERGY FAIR AFFORDABLE!
If you would like to volunteer, email Jan Hutslar at janhutslar@yahoo.com Checks for your tax deductible donation should be made out to CES-Energy Fair and sent to: Community Energy Services, 101 Main St., Canton, NY 13617. To contact us with questions: email fair@ncenergy.org or call 315-379-9466. We are already beginning to plan the 2008 Fair. Next year you may want to help us out by volunteering, taking out an ad in our 16-page program distributed through local newspapers and given out at the Fair, becoming a sponsor or taking a booth in our Exhibit Hall.
The annual Sustainable Energy Fair is a joint project of Community Energy Services (CES), a 501-c-3 nonprofit, SUNY-Canton and Seedcorn, Inc. The Fair is also a project of North Country Energy Smart Communities, a program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
We thank all of our generous 2007 sponsors: NOBLE ENVIRONMENTAL POWER • NYSERDA • BROOKFIELD POWER • NYPA • SWEETGRASS FOUNDATION • ALCOA • ALLIANCE FOR MUNICIPAL POWER • ALLIANCE ENERGY • CLARKSON CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT • EMPIRE STATE WIND ENERGY • ROBSON WOESE • ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT • COAKLEY’S CARPET ONE AND ACE HARDWARE • UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF CANTON • ZERO POINT CLEAN TECH
