Lexington, Richmond, Berea, Bowling Green and Elizabethtown

Elizabethtown

The 2015 Elizabethtown Solar Tour will be held on Saturday, October 10, at 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. The event will showcase solar-powered homes and businesses in Elizabethtown. The tour will be hosted by the Memorial United Methodist Church (UMC) and Avery and Sun Solar Installations. This event is one of hundreds being held across the U.S. as part of the 20^th annual National Solar Tour of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). 

The 2015 Elizabethtown Solar Tour will begin at the UMC, 631 North Miles Street, at 10:00 a.m. with a presentation on Solar in Kentucky from three perspectives: as system owner, installer, and utility. The speakers will include Bob Steen, UMC Board Chair; Sam Avery, Avery and Sun owner; and Jason Mattingly, Meter and Power Use Controller at Nolin Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, Following this, participants will view the UMC’s recent 50 kW installation then carpool to two residential sites within a five mile radius with a 32.55 kW ground mount system and a 19.84 kW roof mount system. 

Participants will learn about the affordability, carbon savings, and other benefits of solar as well as about federal and state tax credits and Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). The tour is free and open to the public.  For more information contact Nancy Givens, Avery and Sun Marketing and Education Manager, nlgbg15@outlook.com or 270-792-0727.

Berea-Lexington-Richmond Solar Tour

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.

Bowling Green

The 2015 Bowling Green Solar Tour will be held on Saturday, October 10, at 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and is part of the 20^th Annual National Solar Tour sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). The tour will be hosted by Bowling Green-based Solar Energy Pioneers. The tour will begin at to the Solar Energy Pioneers storefront, 8141 Nashville Rd. (3.5 miles south of town) at 10:00 a.m., where there will be a presentation about how solar works in Kentucky. Following this, participants will carpool to six sites, all within a five mile radius. A variety of installation types will be showcased, including roof mounted and ground mounted, residential and commercial, and a dual axis tracker system. The tour is free and open to the public.  

For more information contact Tim Taylor, Office Manager, at tim@solarenergypioneers.com or 270-843-0009.