Solar-powered and green homes will be open to the public for free visits on Saturday, October 1st from 10 AM to 4 PM as part of the National Solar Tour & Green Buildings Open House on Long Island. Tour visitors can learn about solar and other forms of clean energy and energy efficiency directly from people in their community, watch electric meters run backwards, and see the actual savings on utility bills. Tour locations are all over the island from Hempstead to the Hamptons.
These island-wide open houses showcase solar electricity or other green building features such as energy efficiency upgrades, geothermal heat, solar water heating, and even electric cars. The National Solar Tour & Green Buildings Open House is organized on Long Island by the non-profit Renewable Energy Long Island (reLI) and by the American Solar Energy Society at the national level. More than 160,000 participants are expected to visit some 5,500 buildings in 3,200 communities across the U.S.
“The Tour is your once-a-year chance to see solar and green building features in action and talk directly to homeowners about their experience”, said Gordian Raacke, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Long Island (reLI). “More than 4,000 Long Islanders have already installed solar systems and on October 1st you can find out if switching to solar and other clean energy sources would work for you.”
Homes on the tour have significant energy savings, with some of them paying only $9/month to LIPA. Many feature a multitude of green building innovations such as ENERGY STAR certifications, solar electric, hot water and pool heating, geothermal heat pumps, heat recovery ventilation and more.
The self-guided tour is free of charge but visitors will need to obtain a free Visitors Pass from reLI and can then see a list of tour locations. Visitor will receive a reLI’s latest LI GreenGuide, a 32-page publication with articles on energy efficiency, solar and wind energy, climate change and related topics.
For Visitors Passes and more information go to RenewableEnergyLongIsland.org or call (631) 329-8888.
More info available at www.renewableenergylongisland.org/visitorfaqs.cfm.
