Energy Committee

Come see solar homes and electric vehicles

Saturday, September 30, 10 am - 4 pm.

Eight solar-powered homes will be open to the public in the 2006 San Francisco Solar Homes and Electric Vehicles Tour. Other Bay Area tours are Oct. 1 in San Jose and Oct. 7 in Pacifica and in Santa Cruz. Dozens of additional tours are scheduled across the country. To find the tour nearest you, see: www.nationalsolartour.org

The San Francisco tour is a self-guided event that gives visitors a chance to learn about the feasibility and affordability of solar power and how this can be combined with zero-emissions electric vehicles.

A $20 registration fee is good for one or two people to receive a tour guidebook with directions and information about the sites, where they can talk with the homeowners and solar installers and see electric cars. The tour includes homes in San Francisco's Bayview, Castro, Forest Hills, Haight Ashbury, Ingleside, Inner Sunset, Noe Valley, and Outer Mission neighborhoods.

Organized by the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association (http://sfeva.org) the tour is co-sponsored by the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Energy Committee, the Northern California Solar Energy Association, and the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

To pre-register for the tour, go to www.norcalsolar.org

People not pre-registered will need to register on the day of the tour between 10 am and 2 pm on Civic Plaza. Look for the registration table next to the temporary "Green Katrina Cottage" near the Civic Auditorium. (See below.) For more information, call (415)681-7716.

Tour registration includes free admission for one person (a $30 value) to a separate "homeowners day" at West Coast Green: westcoastgreen.com

the Residential Building Conference and Expo, also on Sep. 30 at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St., San Francisco. Builders will construct a "Green Katrina Cottage" on City Plaza. City officials have proclaimed the week of Sep. 25 "Green Week" in honor of these environmentally beneficial events.

The Oct. 1 tour in San Jose will combine a tour of homes with a free Solar and Green Building Fair, co-sponsored by NorCalSolar and Build It Green. Four of 11 homes on the tour are solar-powered and all have green-building features. The free fair features vendors and solar-electric presentations by leading solar advocates from 9 am to 2 pm at the Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies, DeAnza College, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. The San Jose homes will be open for touring from 10 am to 5 pm at a cost of $15 per person, plus $2.50 for shipping and handling of the tour guidebook. For information or to register, see builditgreen.org

For information on the Pacifica solar homes tour, contact Jeanie Ferreira at norcalsolar -at- gmail.com

For the Santa Cruz tour, contact Collette Streight at collette -at- ecoact.org or (831) 426-5925, ext. 117.