About the Fair

Our Energy Fair has always been a community fair. It started in the early 90s as a tiny Earth Day event at one of our local universities. It grew in popularity over the years staffed by volunteers, moved to the local Junior High School, and was taken on in 2001 by Community Energy Services, a non-profit that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy in the North Country. In 2006 the Fair moved to a new larger home in the SUNY Canton Campus Center and partnered with the SUNY Canton Renewable Energy Program. It was able to hire a part time paid organizer for the first time and made a huge leap into being a larger regional event attended by 1500 people. In 2007 it became recognized as the largest community energy fair in upstate New York.

Energy, how it is produced and consumed, has a significant impact on all of us. Whether we’re interested in saving money, saving the environment, or both, improving energy efficiency can have a profound effect on our lives. It is clear now that no change in the way we approach our energy needs and use will have a negative effect on us and our planet. Improving energy efficiency, conserving energy, using renewable energy and changing our lifestyles is something we can all do with technologies now available and it is what the Energy Fair is all about. Be it through high efficiency light bulbs, solar panels, biodiesel or hybrid electric automobiles, the technology exists now to dramatically reduce our energy and fossil fuel consumption, improve our lives and reduce our impact on the environment.

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