SolFest 2008

jchait — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you're planning your summer vacation soon; you might want to consider scheduling in some time for SolFest 2008.

SolFest takes place each year at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California. This year the event is August 16-17 - which gives you plenty of time to plan your trip. I've never been to the festival, but I've been to the institute and the area is beautiful. To see the institute transformed into a huge two-day celebration of renewable energy and sustainable living has got to be amazing.

Since 1996, over 100,000 people have attended SolFest. What happens at the festival is meant to be fun, but is also meant to be a way to create a knowledge base for long-term sustainable change.

What the festival offers:

First off, if you're into sustainable homes, this is your sort of festival. Each year about 50+ workshops take place. While workshops for 2008 aren't set in stone yet (keep an eye on the website), workshops tend to include the following topics:

Solar Electric Systems, Straw bale Construction, Socially Responsible Investing, Hydrogen Power, Building with Bamboo, Restorative Farming, Cob Construction, Industrial Hemp, Ecological Design, Permaculture, Green Power Options, Solar Cooking, Electric Vehicles, Sustainable Wastewater Design, Government Rebates for Renewables, Fuel Cells, and more.

Kid friendly!: Each year SolFest add new programs and workshops for children. There's a family stage with puppets, music, and more. There's also a fun zone where kids can jump in a bubbling stream while learning about solar energy and water. Lastly, the Solar Living Institute is home to the world’s only solar-powered carousel. So, this is a very family-oriented vacation.

Every SolFest Saturday night, there's a huge stage event with live bands and djs, plus acts like the Haute Trash Fashion Show and Veggie Oil Wrestling.

There's also always plenty of organic food and drink.

Usually the SolFest website kicks off full force by summer. I wanted to give you a heads up early, because it's hard to plan family vacations on short notice. While the event is two days, you'll already be in Mendocino County - an amazing place, so you and the family could stick around for a while if you'd like a longer vacation. Or even head South to San Francisco or North to Humboldt (both great spots to visit). In any case if you're interested in sustainable building or living this is a event you don't want to miss.

I really want to go this year - so I may see you there. It depends; because of course, just to make my life difficult, two other events I want to attend, Blog World Expo (September 20-21) and West Coast Green (September 25-27) are fairly close to each other and SolFest. All three will be excellent, but three events from the end of Aug to Sept? That's going to require some clever arranging on my part. Here's hoping.

SolFest Website

[photo via Solar Living Institute]

For more information on sustainable building, check out:

Off the Grid: Hawaii's the Place to Give Sustainable Living a Try

What is Sustainable Building?

35 Ideas for Building a Greener House

Personal Information About Green Home Building

jchait — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

I thought it might be cool today to reach out to some other folks who have built green. It's so much better when you can hear first hand about the experience of building. You get a personal view at all the pros and cons, plus you get to develop some ideas of your own.

That said, if you're interested in building a green home, the following reads will come in handy.

Jessie over at Green.mnp hasn't actually built a house yet - but is at the start of the process, The land has been bought, pictures are up, and the planning has started for Jessie's straw bale home. If you start following along now, it should be entertaining and educational, from start to finish.

Ron Gompertz and his his wife started Bozeman House after purchasing a turn of the century house in the historic district of Bozeman, Montana. Their site covers tons of great green building and renovation issues. At the site you can connect with green builders and suppliers, learn about the cost aspects and financial incentives for sustainable building, follow the renovation progress of Gompertz’s home, and learn lots more. This is a treasure hunt of a green building site.

PassiveSolarGreenhouse.com is unique in that they're talking about green, greenhouses. If you're considering building a greenhouse that's actually "green" i.e. earth friendly, you won't want to miss this site. Project details are included.

A Low Impact Woodland Home is a home you have to see to believe - built by one family, with help from family and friends, this home is a partial underground, green roof, sustainable, fairy-tale like delight. This home was built mere pennies and I promise you'll be amazed when you see it. It's one of my favorite green homes out there.

Lastly today is the house I built. I did some past posts on this house, because I have mixed feelings - like many home builders.

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Rocks

10 Reasons Why Building Your Own House Sucks

We'll continue to look at other personal accounts of green home builders as this blog develops, so stay tuned.