Conversation Stations and variety of speakers at NW SolarFest Saturday

NW SolarFest is this Saturday at Shoreline Community College, from 10am – 5pm with free entry and free parking.

In addition to visiting the exhibits you can hear great speakers from the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild and check out the Conversation Stations with topics ranging from Organic Vegetable Gardening to chemical-free beauty routines. 

Listen to speakers on sustainable living
Photo by Jerry Pickard

Here is the schedule:

11am   Sustainable Home Makeover, Laura Elfline, Co-owner/founder of Mighty House Construction. MightyHouseConstruction.com – a sustainable home remodeling company.

Focusing on sustainability from a whole life perspective; how you use your home and financial considerations are just as important as green building products, energy conservation, and space functionality.

12pm   Rainwater Harvesting … (and greywater) use for irrigation, Jim Bristow – general contractor and green builder since 1976. Jim has fully functioning rainwater and greywater systems in his home in Ballard.

Learn about the benefits and basics of rainwater harvesting with cisterns, how you can control and collecting rainwater from your roof; different options, system, and related resources.

1pm   Balancing Solar and Energy Efficiency expenses in Net Zero Homes, Tom Balderston, Sr. Green Building Consultant, Balderston Associates

Learn about the affordability of NetZero homes in both new and retrofit. Just how efficient should the house be to achieve a NetZero Balance? How large should a solar array be? Tom will introduce the concepts of energy modeling and cost effective choices for Net Zero Homes.

Electric car and solar charging station
Photo by Jerry Pickard

2pm   Electric Cars, Jeremy Smithson, co-founder of Puget Sound Solar. PSS designs, installs, and services all types of grid-connected solar electric systems and electric vehicle charging stations.

Find out how a home with solar can provide all the energy for family cars in that household; reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and bolstering the local economy.

3pm   Passive House strategies … Comfortable Healthy Homes, Jay Lazerwitz, Architect and Certified Passive House Consultant

A brief overview of Passivhaus – an ultra-low energy standard that utilizes optimized levels of insulation, high performance windows, and superior airtightness to ensure high levels of comfort and indoor air quality. Passivhaus focuses on reducing energy demand – significantly reducing a building’s energy bills and carbon footprint.

4pm   Passive Solar Home Design, Chris Herman, Winter Sun Design

Passive solar space heating, cooling and daylighting can make your home more energy efficient, comfortable and light. No moving parts, no added costs (if building new) and no maintenance, except for washing the windows. Come and join this whirlwind perspective from a solar veteran.

Also join the conversation at our Conversation Stations led by local experts.

Conversation Station #1

11:00   Climate Change, and What We Can Do About It 

Tom Watson, King County EcoConsumer

12:00   Solar Works in the Pacific NW

Keith Hughes, West Seattle Natural Energy

1:00   SHellNO: Why Drilling in the Arctic is Unacceptable

David Perk , SHellNO activist

2:00   Return Our Planet's Atmosphere to 350 ppm CO2 by End of this Century

Gabe Mandell and Youth Climate Justice Ambassadors, Plant for the Planet

3:00   Beginners Organic Vegetable Gardening 

Lorn Richey and surprise guest

Conversation Station #2

10:30   Get Naked with Mrs. Snohomish County! (getting the chemicals out of your beauty routine)

Angelique Ashton, The Naked Project

Electric cars at Solar Fest
Photo by Jerry Pickard

11:30   Electric Cars Transportation rEVolution – Electric Vehicles are transforming the world 

Larry Owens, Shoreline Solar Project Co-founder and EV owner

12:30   Your vibration influences others: Reduce stress and find balance with Reiki

Eileen Dey Wurst, The Reiki Fellowship 

1:30   How Your Day to Day Choices Impact the Environment . . .and what you can do about it! 

Jane McClure, Shoreline Solar Project Board member, 21 Acres Sustainable Event Coordinator

2:30   Why Not Solar? - Dispelling Common Myths in the PNW 

Brian Rauzi, Passionate Student