Chester County Clean Energy Tour

By Jim Wylie & Paula Kline, The Sylvanian, Winter 2019 Southeastern PA Sierra Club Newsletter, December 13, 2019

On October 19, 2019, Ready for 100/Chester County hosted a tour on the National Solar Tour. We visited 35 sites, covering the better part of the whole county, and welcomed over 200 participants at installed and operation examples of:

Rooftop residential solar systems
Battery storage systems
Large commercial solar operations – including a 1.1 MW array at a mushroom farm
Green roofs
Ground-source heat pumps
Air-source heat pumps (owner installed)
Net-zero, passive solar homes
Solar powered robotic lawnmowers
Renewable gas producing digesters
Home energy efficiency measures – including an in-progress blower door test by PECO Home Energy Assessments program
Electric vehicles and charging stations
And much more

The Chester County Clean Energy Tour of 2019 was the culmination of a vision by Paula Kline, Ready For 100/Chester County team leader. Paula committed to joining the national solar tour in the spring of 2019 and spent eight months lining up volunteers (about 15), endorsements from elected officials and energy related organizations and sponsors (commercial) and co-sponsors (env orgs). A huge undertaking that ultimately included four kickoff sites with hosts and presenters and visual materials that can be used for future renewable energy related events….

read more in The Sylvani an

Don’t miss it: Saturday, October 19, 2019, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Did you know Chester County is a state leader in solar energy and energy efficiency? Across the County, 20.88 MW are produced in 839 Installations (#2 in PA). Join us for a tour of exemplary clean energy projects at our schools, universities, businesses, farms, non-profits, municipalities and homes. Be inspired at this FREE event that features self-guided tours and open house tours across the County.

The logos to the left show sponsors of the Chesco tour. There will be more! Note that Chester County’s topic for the day is much broader than the national solar theme.

Kick-off events will provide an orientation and suggested route. The homes, businesses, and public places you visit will demonstrate green technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, green design, energy efficiency, electric vehicles and more. Learn how your home, workplace, local schools and municipal facilities can be part of the transition to cleaner, safer renewable energy.

For your organization to endorse the tour, please download the invitation and (p. 3) endorsement form ASAP here: Energy tour endorsement letter and form

To find out more about proposing for the tour your clean energy installation of any sort (in addition to those listed above, green roofs, electricity storage, LEED certification, rain collection, and much more) download this: Solar tour host invitation

Fill out the proposal for your installation to be on the tour online here.

Be part of the largest national renewable energy event ever and be one of the many forward-thinking hosts or participants from across the country!

The tour is coordinated by Solar United Neighbors and the American Solar Energy Society, with help from Chester County Ready for 100% Renewable. See more about the nationwide National Solar tour here.