Alternate Energy FAir Held At The Farm Michael Traugot The first Alternate Energy Fair of the Summer of 1990, held at the Farm Community in Summertown, TN, is now history, but the ripples will continue to be felt for some time. Over 100 campers came from as far away as California and MIchigan to display their devices, give and attend workshops, and share information and good vibes. Others who could not attend sent information to be displayed. Attendees dined on the finest in vegetarian cuisine (itself an alternate energy form) from the Veggie-Deli, and enjoyed the woods and swimming hole at the Farm. People brought a good sampling of different alternate energy devices, both high and low-tech. A solar pump circulated water; solar box cookers baked potatoes and cookies; a pair of parabolic reflectors focused light on Stirling engines, which moved back and forth as long as the sun shone; a ram pump set up at a nearby creek pumped water ten feet into the air; water heated up in a solar shower and a solar car, fresh from the American Tour de Sol, gave people rides up and down the road. A standard Ford tractor ran on ethanol, accompanied by an explanation of how the major oil companies are conspiring to keep ethanol mixes off the market. There was a micro-hydro turbine, disassembled for inspection, and an on- demand water heater, which was sold before the Fair was over. Tours of two nearby solar homes were offered, and most attendees made it to one or both of the tours. Meanwhile, the Farm's passive solar school building, the largest single display, remained impressively cool inside despite 90¡ plus temperatures outside. Participants universally reported that the networking was the best thing about the Fair (along with the food). One pioneer said that he had been making his own power for eleven years, and had met more people doing the same thing at this fair than he had in all the previous eleven years. At least two participants plan to come out with prototypes this summer and start selling their products. Howard Kress of Rome, GA is working on a 300 watt parabolic concentrator/Stirling engine unit to take the place the place of photovoltaics in a home power system. Darryl Murphy of Sale Creek, TN plans to start building solar cars for people soon. The model he brought to the Fair can do 45 miles per hour, and wore a Tennessee license plate, having passed the state requirements for road worthiness. Both inventors were gassed (pardon the pun) to meet so many other good folks interested in the same things. Possibly due to a late start on publicity, there was not a large participation by local Tennesseans. However, several key people did attend. The assistant Principal from the local public high school came, and asked if we could bring some of these new ideas and technologies to his science classrooms next fall. A reporter from from the newspaper in neighboring Lawrenceburg, TN gave us a feature story on the front page. A beginning has definitely been made in terms of educating the local area about the possibilities of renewable, non-polluting energy, which was one of the major objectives of the Fair. Most of the participants enthusiastically declared that they would like to do it again next year. Before the Fair ended, participants held a meeting and formed a committee to stay in touch and plan next year's Fair. Financially, the Fair broke even, although it depended largely on volunteer time. With a little more planning and publicity and an earlier start, the Fair could be much bigger next year and have a greater impact in the local area. BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT BoldHeading TEXT