SolFest 2001     

by Karen Miller, Vice President, National Hydrogen Association

SolFest 2001, in its sixth annual weekend was held August 25-26, 2001 at the Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, CA. The two-day festival celebrates renewable energy and sustainable living and offered provocative speakers and a diverse selection of educational workshops on the natural home, solar energy, alternative building, and hydrogen vehicles. Sponsors of the 2001 event included: AstroPower, Birkenstock, California Energy Commission, DOE/Sandia Labs, Evergreen Solar, Natural Home Magazine, Powerlight, Schott Applied Power, Solar Today, Toyota, Unisolar, WAPA, and Xantrex Technologies Inc.

At the request of Dr. Jay Keller of Sandia National Labs, the NHA supported the DOE commitment to SolFest 2001 through workshop facilitation. Karen Miller and Dr. Keller facilitated two informal workshops during the weekend, one hour each, on hydrogen energy technologies. The audience consisted primarily of homeowners interested in sustainable living. Their technical backgrounds varied from being completely unaware of hydrogen energy technologies to interest in purchasing fuel cells for their homes and converting their automobiles to run on hydrogen. Participants in the workshops came from all over the country, but most were residents of California. Dr. Keller and Ms. Miller agreed that the audience was representative of the public sector of early adopters of hydrogen energy technologies.
Dr. Jay Keller, Sandia, and Karen Miller, NHA, talk with Solfest attendees

Based on questions and concerns raised from individuals prior to the presentations, it was clear that some participants felt that the U.S. government and big business were conspiring to control sustainable energy technologies in order to profit at the expense of the people. This concern was addressed during the workshops by illustrating the partnership between government and industry, through cost-shared R&D.;

The audience on Saturday was quite large, perhaps a hundred people, under a tent sitting on hay bales at the Real Goods Sustainable Living Center. Sunday’s audience was smaller, mostly due to lesser attendance overall that day. The focus on technology development for the people was well received. This audience should be considered representative of early adopters of alternative energy technologies in the private sector. The time to educate the public in these technologies is now. The NHA is interested in working with DOE on more public education and outreach efforts.

For more information on SolFest, see their website at www.Solarliving.org/solfest2001.cfm.

©2002. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National Hydrogen Association.
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