Home

SolWest Fair logo

SolWest Fair Program

Newsletter

Calendar of Events

Our Photo Album

Our Business Members

Support EORenew

RE Links Page

Contact & Access

Archives and Articles

EORenew -- education -- energy services -- SolWest Fair

 

RE Links and Tools

 

 

Energy Fairs:
If you can't get to SolWest at the end of July, please try to go to one of these great regional events:

Northwest Solar Expo, Portland OR. Includes OSEIA professional training event. mid-April

Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, Amherst WI
third weekend of June

SolarFest, Middletown Springs VT. "Energy Education Through the Arts."mid-July

Southern Energy & Environmment Expo, Fletcher NC
late August

Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair, Fort Collins CO
mid-September

Solar Fiesta, Albuquerque NM
late September

Renewable Energy Roundup, Fredericksburg TX
late September

National Tour of Solar Homes, in a town near you!
early October

If you can't make it to a regional event, support your local fair! Here are a few local fairs in the Northwest:

Shoreline Solar Project's Renewable Energy Fair, Shoreline WA (north of Seattle), third week in July

Humboldt State Sustainable Living, Arts and Music Festival,
Arcata CA, third week in April

Sites About Solar Living:

Our Cool House's owner writes: "Our goal was to create a home that uses the sun, earth and water to create a pleasant living environment where we can enjoy the wildlife, and which also reduces our demands on non-sustainable resources. I think we succeeded!" The site includes design & construction details, live data, and discussion forums. It's very entertaining to browse around!

Directory of RE Businesses

The Source for Renewable Energy is the most complete listing of RE businesses on the web.

CirKits Links to Alternative Energy Web Sites

Tax Credits, Low-interest Loans, Efficiency, and Energy News:

The Oregon Department of Energy offers a little bit of everything. Find out about all the different state programs to help finance energy upgrades. There’s a story on the roots of the energy crisis. Warning: you need the latest version of Acrobat Reader to view some of the pages (anything with a .pdf extension).

DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

A Consumer's Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy -- a one-stop guide to everything you ever wanted to know about saving energy and making energy, from the US Department of Energy.

The Energy Ideas Clearinghouse from Washington State University and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance contains news, solutions, jobs, events and an energy library.

EcoIQ.com Energy website is for everyone interested in making smart choices about our energy future -- choices that are both economically and ecologically intelligent.

The Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative is a joint effort of business, government, non-profit and educational institutions determined to accelerate the emergence and growth of the energy technology industry in the Pacific Northwest region of North America.

Energy Calculation Tools:

The GE Lighting Estimator (part of their Lighting Toolkit) helps you decide how many fixtures you really need to light an area. This estimator does not, however, include fields to enter ceiling height and surface reflectance, so it is only a rough guideline.

Home Energy Audit Tool from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs says "Investing in a home on your street could be more profitable than investing on Wall Street." The site asks detailed questions and helps you figure out what investments to make.

Groups supporting Community and Sustainability

3E Strategies is a non-profit in Bend concentrating on responsible lifestyles, including energy issues.

Oregon Rural Action has chapters in La Grande, Baker and Ontario. Their issues include clean food and renewable energy.

Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT) protects rural and urban agricultural lands from encroachment by non-agricultural uses & conducts research and education centered on the sustainable production and distribution of agricultural bounty

EcoSpeakers has a growing roster of speakers on renewable energy, conservation, global warming, green building, and related topics.

RE Education & classes:

The Northwest Energy Education Institute at Lane Community College hosts classes around the northwest on energy efficiency, energy auditing, renewable energy technology, and other energy topics.

Solar Energy International has hands-on, on-site classes as well as web-based learning.

Solar-on-Line has on-line courses & practical skills training in: Solar Energy, Photovoltaics, Solar & Environmental Building, Design & Construction

Educational Sites K-12:

Energy Hog gives you an ID badge and allows you into the "Hogbusters Training Camp" where you learn to spot and defeat the Energy Hogs in your house. Info for adults, too.

Captain Planet's Energy Game is an educational video game which mixes energy awareness with entertainment.

New Mexico Solar Energy Association’s educational offerings include teacher primers and active classroom projects

California’s Energy Education Site starts with an interactive picture of a room. Move the mouse over objects to see where you can go from there. For both students and parents/teachers.

The Sunsite Funsite has great interactive pictures: click on the numbered dots and “more” to learn the story of solar energy. Probably best grades 3-12.

The Energy Information Administration Kids’ Stuff. Try clicking on Kids’ Page. Energy Ant as host, at first looks like it is aimed at younger children. However, the level of technical information is high enough that even adults can benefit from looking over the site. Take it on at whatever level you find yourself, it’s well laid out and well-presented. Other links include “Roofus’ Solar Home”, science projects, and “Ask an Energy Expert”.

Teacher Resources

The US Department of Energy has posted their "Get Smart About Energy" curriculum online. The site contains more than 350 lesson plans and activities on energy efficiency and renewable energy for grades K-12. Each includes a short summary that identifies curriculum integration, time, materials, and national standards.

The Florida Solar Resource Center’s curricula page is full of great links to educational resources and activities for K-12 students.

The Alliance to Save Energy’s lesson plans are avaialble for K-12 sturdents in pdf form so they can be downloaded and used as classroom lessons. Topics include “A Home Energy Audit”, “The Issue of Renewable Energy”, and more. Oriented more towards saving energy than making it.

Louisiana Energy and Environmental Resource and Infomation Center click on EE Education, and scroll down. “What’s a Watt?” is listed as an activity for middle school level, but is good for even older students who are unfamiliar with the concept that different appliances use different amounts of electricity. Teaches by requiring investigation at home.

US Department of Energy's Office of Science The latest science news. Their “Science Education/Science Pages for Kids” links are mostly very general.

The National Renewable Energy Lab offers teacher support, science competitions, and post-12 training opportunities for students interested in pursuing a career.

RE Publications:

Home Power Magazine: comprehensive coverage of solar, wind, and microhydro electricity, home energy efficiency, solar hot water systems, space heating and cooling, green building materials and home design, efficient transportation, and more.

Living Off Grid is an electronic newsletter for users of renewable energy and those who believe in a sustainable future.

Earthtoys Emagazine is an online resource for the alternative energy industry to report on itself.

Home Energy provides information about energy conservation both for people who work on homes and for those who live in them.

Tools: RETScreen International Clean Energy Project Analysis Software

EORenew is pleased to provide access through our website to RETScreen International Clean Energy Project Analysis Software.

The RETScreen International Clean Energy Project Analysis Software is a unique decision support tool developed with the contribution of numerous experts from government, industry, and academia. The software, provided free-of-charge, can be used world-wide to evaluate the energy production, life-cycle costs and greenhouse gas emission reductions for various types of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies (RETs). The software also includes product, cost and weather databases; and a detailed online user manual.

 

Our website is solar powered.
Website hosting graciously provided by kenneke.com

top, index