Green Festival 2006

[helen99]

October 14 and 15 is the DC Green Festival for anyone who's interested in going. We'll be there, probably both days. Here's the link: http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/10/33/

Here's the schedule:
http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/blogcategory/45/47/

I think I might go to "Alisa Gravitz: The Solar Future: Making it Happen Now", because she's from around here (she spams me with local activist stuff all the time), so maybe she can tell me how to actually get my house hooked up to solar in an affordable fashion. I doubt it, because a lot of these people are consultants only and don't know anything about installation, prices, where to get it, etc. You know, the stuff that would actually make it happen for someone other than eccentric millionaires or commercial/government organizations.

At 3:00 pm on Sunday we of course will be at " Paul Stamets (90 minutes): Mycelium Running: Mushrooms Can Save the World", even if the end of the world happens first. In that case, it'll be us and Paul Stamets, perched on a little portion of the convention center, floating in space, with a copy of Mycelium Running. It'll be a little depressing, but at least we'll have gotten to see the guy. We gave away our 5th copy of that book this weekend. It's become a joke when I go to Borders North and order another copy. I've taken to seeking out the same Borders employee to order it each time, because she gets a kick out of it. This time (after the requisite laughter), she said, "I'll have to order a copy for myself. I'm getting curious..."

Comments

[keyake.livejournal.com]

That sounds cool, you guys have fun. *g* Actually, I have an uncle who has a hobby of doing stuff with solar heating and the like, I should poke him for info.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

If you find anything out, let me know!

I know it's possible to get a solar collector to run a single appliance (such as a water heater or the lizards' UV lights or a laptop). I wouldn't mind doing it that way, but even a small solar collector costs $200 as far as I've been able to tell.

I figure it would still not be to my advantage to do an on-the-grid hookup. The power company has a system that allows them to buy the solar electricity that an on-grid solar household produces. Then they subtract that amount from your overall power bill for the month. Unfortunately they buy it at a cheaper rate than they sell it to you, so either way you lose money, and the initial cost of installing the thing is still astronomical. Also, whereas a lot of states have state subsidies for families that want to go solar, Maryland doesn't.

Some people whose houses are really well situated for passive heating and cooling and are well insulated throughout, can actually make a profit by hooking up to the grid and selling solar back to the power companies and not using any power themselves. I don't think I could do that, though (I tried this summer and failed). My little wood frame house is neither well situated nor well insulated, and it gets very hot and muggy in the summer and very cold in winter.

[kiarrith.livejournal.com]

we might come down to go to it w you again...

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Coolness. Keep us posted...