This weekend – on October 4-5 – the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) will participate in the 19th annual National Solar Tour. The event is organized by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and has occurred annually the first weekend of October since 1995. It is a grassroots effort that has grown to about 150,000 participants and 5,000 solar-energy sites across the country.
ASES, in collaboration with partner organizations and volunteers, maintains a clearinghouse of listings of homes and businesses that have adopted solar energy and/or other clean technologies. The “tours” are essentially open-houses so that interested people can see these technologies in action and learn about their environmental and economic benefits. Those considering solar energy, or simply just curious about solar and other energy efficient technologies, are encouraged to take advantage of the weekend event.
As depicted in the map below, there are tours occurring in nearly every state. At the ASES website you can zero in on homes and businesses on tour near you.
In Asheville, the public is welcome to check out SACE’s recent installation of a dual-axis tracking 7.8 kW–DC solar photovoltaic (PV) system, recently featured on WLOS/ABC news, located behind SACE’s Asheville office at 46 Orchard St, just north of downtown. The solar system demonstrates advanced technologies including high performance modules, a dual-axis tracker, and highly efficient inverter with DC optimizers. More details about the system itself can be found in this blog. Solar only makes sense if you’ve taken steps to improve energy efficiency first, which SACE has done. Although the office won’t be open over the weekend for viewing SACE’s efficiency upgrades, you can read about those changes here and watch this video for a virtual tour!
Asheville is a hot spot for new solar systems thanks to the recent Solarize Asheville campaign that resulted in over 370 enrollments, at least 50 signed contracts, and over 230 kilowatts of new installed solar, with SACE’s system among those! Led by Katie Bray, the Solarize Asheville program has since evolved into Clean Energy for Us (CE4U), based on a similar business model with a broadened focus to include both solar installations and energy efficiency improvements. SACE is proud to be a partner of this program in both Western North Carolina and Raleigh.
If you have a solar installation – no matter where you live – add it to the Tour. Either way, take advantage of the upcoming weekend to get inspired by what neighboring businesses and residents are doing with clean technology.