By Tracy Idell Hamilton
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Summary: For the eleventh year in a row Maverick Park in San Antonio is having Solar Fest. It is a festival which includes live music, fun run, kids activities and more importantly countless solar exhibits. This festival is 100 percent ran off of renewable energy and promotes San Antonio’s Bring Solar Home campaign. This campaign links local residents with installers who lend low-interest solar loans. This campaign translated into 3 million dollars in economic activity. This has campaign has proven to work better than offering rebates to the community, only five homes signed up when they offered rebates but 70 signed up with the campaign. This festival also helps promote the building of green homes, hybrid and electrical vehicles and tree planting.
Response: This event seems like it is a really good one for the community and the future of renewable energy. I can’t believe that this is the eleventh you San Antonio is doing this. It is really helping promote solar energy in homes, which is good because that region of the country is a great candidate for solar energy considering the amount of sun they have. More cities around the country should start their own Solar Fest so we can expand the use of solar energy and even green housing and other things they are promoting. A lot of people are starting to use solar energy which is a promising source of energy. Three neighbors of mine already have about 30 panels each on the top of their roofs and more are enquiring about it. It is really great for the future of our country.
Questions:- How did this event start?
- What is San Antonio, Texas a good place for this event?
- Why is solar energy a good renewable resource?
- Are they expanding this event to other cities around the country?
- How come this event is mostly solar energy?
I think this is a great way to show the people of San Antonio how easy it is to use Solar Energy over fossil fuels. As the years go by in that area, more and more people will eventually be influenced enough by this event to convert. I believe this is a major step forward in the fight to use alternative energies, and I hope more cities are influenced by San Antonio and its efforts.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a Solar Field in Kansas I saw a while ago. This shows the spread of alternative energy and how more places are stepping up and making an investment for our future.
Questions:
1. Are there any other wide-spread alternative energy festivals in the U.S?
2. Why don't people just make the change to Solar power, since its cleaner?
3. San Antonio is a good place for a Solar Fest, because of its excess sunlight but where would be a good place for a "Wind Fest"?
4. Will more people switch energy sources if we alert them on the benefits on Solar power?
5. Is there a chance of getting a Solar event started in Horsham?
I agree it is really nice that this is the 11th year that they have had a solar fest. It will help spread the word not only about alternate energy but about solar power alone.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1)HOw many people attend solar fest?
2) Who started it and have they changed anyone from fossil fuels to only solar power?
3) ARe there any other pro alterantive energy fests out there wwe do not know aobut?
I think that the solar fest is an excellent idea! Having an annual fun day is a great way of getting people interested in alternative energy. Making people interested in things like solar energy is a good step in getting the nation off fossil fuels. If more cities across the nation can start having benefits like the solar fest I think the nation would definitley benefit.
ReplyDeleteQuestion #2: San Antonio is a great city for solar fest. The region is mostly flat, without many trees, and lots of sun. these are ideal conditions for solar energy. Also, since San Antonio is a well populated area many people will hear about the event and solar fest will have a higher turnout.
I think this is a great idea. It is promoting clean energy for a great cause. It is amazing that 70 people have siggned up for solar energy from this event. If every state had this, it would raise more money for the state to put in clean energy and it would also teach the community. This reminds me of when there was a carnival in my old town that would raise money for some charity.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
Who thought of this idea?
How much money do they raise?
Does it benefit anything besides solar energy?