Again this year Baton Rouge participated in the National Tour of Solar Buildings.  This year's event was held on October 5, 2002, two days after hurricane Lili hit Louisiana.   The event was listed in the Baton Rouge newspaper "FUN" section and the word was spread on the web but a lot of people assumed it was postponed.  We were pleased to have quite a few visitors as well as members take the tour.  

Member Eric Riley, a solar installer that moved here from Pennsylvania, was on hand to answer specific install questions.  Frank Buffone, who installed Jan Belk's system was also a wealth of information.  He also had lots of tips on energy conservation.  Thanks to the cool bubblewrap insulation, Jan's attic was actually comfortable to be in!  Her house was the second stop on the tour.  I'll do an article on her system next month.

At my home the visitors were able to see my homepower setup in use as well as a portable system.  Click here for more info.  I had the Solar Pathfinder out for everyone to see how it is used for site analysis.  I gave out tons of info and free copies of solar today.  Call or come by if you want one, I have some left.  

Everyone got to see first hand that this stuff isn't a dream; that it's working now.  It should be even more popular in hurricane season which is when the National group always schedules the tour! 

We had new members Gene & Mary Klaus drive over from Houma to meet everybody and pick up some information.  Jennifer Beck also enjoyed the tour.  Susan & John Jordan got a lot from the tour as they are planning on building a new solar & energy efficient home and had lots of questions.  They are contributing members and thanks to the Jordans we were now able to purchase the site name "LSES.ORG"!!!  I have set up the site now so you can update your bookmarks.

If you want to see the tour info for this year click on the links below. 

National Tour Information   Louisiana Tour Information    Louisiana Tour Directions