American Solar Energy Society touring Northeast Ohio Oct. 6-8
Oct. 4—The American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour is once again rolling through Northeast Ohio and will visit multiple locations Oct. 6-8.
The tour will also feature an Electric Vehicle Rally from 10 a.m. to noon, Oct. 6, at Laketran's Wickliffe Park-n-Ride, at 29551 Lakeland Blvd.
Classic Auto Group will bring several electric cars and Laketran will display one of its electric buses, along with several EV owners showcasing and describing their cars to attendees, noted coordinator Tom Rapini.
"There will be a guided bus tour coming out of the Willoughby Senior Center (Oct. 6) which will stop at the rally and seven other sites in Lake and Cuyahoga counties," he said.
An additional tour on Oct. 7 will depart from the Mentor Senior Center and visit eight renewable energy sites in Mentor and Painesville.
Open houses throughout the area will round out the weekend and help visitors learn about the costs, benefits, installation, and operation of home and business renewable energy systems.
The tour is sponsored by Classic Auto Group and the Robert and Laurel Weinberg Family Foundation.
"The purpose of the tour has always been to increase awareness of energy efficiency and, for the last 10 years or so, electric vehicles," Rapini said. "Home and business installations have increased exponentially since the 1990s as solar panel costs have dropped dramatically, making systems much more affordable and reducing payback periods from decades down to years.
"We all can stop watching helplessly as our electric rates go up while the sun pounds our roofs with free energy," he added. "Many of us who have been on the tours since the early days now have electric cars, and there's a new message that comes with that — our cars are not 'electric,' they are 'solar' cars.
"When you couple an electric car with a home solar array, you get a vehicle that runs on free sunshine....it needs no gas, no oil change, no tune-up, and it will never have a rusted exhaust or fail an E-check."
Tours are free and include a free lunch.
Ample seating still remains, Rapini noted. Reservations can be made by contacting Valerie Garrett at 440-231-0842
For information on tour sites, visit www.nationalsolartour.org.
