Sites in Clark County
No reservations needed for open houses
10 a.m. to noon: Solar House at the Westcott Center, 85 S. Greenmount Ave., Springfield
12:30 to 1 p.m.: Assurant, 1 Assurant Way, Springfield
1 to 2 p.m.: Gram residence, 5777 N. River Road, Springfield
2 to 3 p.m.: Dixon residence, 505 King St., Yellow Springs
Sites in Champaign County
To RSVP for the Urbana tour, please RSVP to Tracy Bleim at tracybleim@hotmail.com
10 a.m.: Cedar Bog Nature Preserve, 980 Woodburn Road, Urbana
10:30 a.m.: Bleim Residence, 232 Windsor Ave., Urbana
11 a.m.: Urbana University, 579 College Way, Urbana
On the web: www.greenenergyohio.org
A statewide nonprofit that promotes renewable energy will offer guided tours and other activities at more than 100 private homes, businesses and public locations across Ohio on Saturday, including several sites in Clark and Champaign counties.
Green Energy Ohio, based in Columbus, will offer the event for the 12th year as a way to promote architecture and other projects that take advantage of renewable energy, said Jim Groeber, owner of Ohio Solar and Electric. Groeber is organizing the activities in Clark County, which include two residential homes as well as a solar energy project at Assurant and the Solar House at the Westcott Center for Architecture + Design.
“The purpose of it is to allow people who are interested to have an opportunity to see what these projects look like,” Groeber said. “It allows them to get up close and ask any questions that they might have and it’s all totally free.”
Along with open houses, the event will also offer guided tours to sites such as the Timber Road II Wind Farm in Paulding County, along with guided tours in Urbana, Akron and Stark County, among others.
In Urbana, the tours will include Cedar Bog’s Education Center, along with a residential home that features solar panels and a Geospring water heater. It will also include a stop at Urbana University, where a 1.3-acre solar array provides about 15 percent of the electricity used at the university.
In Springfield, residents can visit the Solar House at the Westcott Center. The site was designed by students at Norwich University in Vermont for the 2013 international Solar Decathalon Competition in California. The idea was that the home would serve as a model for an energy-efficient home that would be affordable for middle-income families.
Its electric system runs completely on solar energy, and it was brought to Springfield to serve as an educational tool for area students, said Marta Wojcik, executive director and curator of the Westcott House.
The Westcott House is working closely with area schools, she said, and will allow students to learn how science can be utilized in architecture and design.
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