Chaolysti has signed on as a Nova sponsor for SolarFest 2011, taking place at Forget-me-Not Farm in beautiful Tinmouth, VT. As partof this announcement, Chaolysti has also signed an agreement to providemarketing consulting services for SolarFest. A decade after attending my first SolarFest, the event which helped me jumpstart my career, I amcircling back now to provide my expertise to the festival that hassupported my development and enriched me.

In 2001, I attended my first SolarFest back at Daisy Hollow Farm as a bright-eyed college student just beginning my journey to learn aboutsolar and other renewable energy technologies. With my partner, I hadbuilt a self-contained and mobile off-grid PV system that we brought tothe festival to provide walkway lighting for the festival’s famousSun-Puppet gate after dark. It was one of the first field tests of theGnuMAD project that would soon set off on a three-plus month journey all over the country and Canada; a project documenting living off the gridwith technology that visited everything from major national parks andcutting-edge eco-communities and landmarks including the Taos EarthShip Community (New Mexico), Backwoods Solar Electric (Idaho), Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm (So. California) and many others.

During the 2001 festival, I sat in eagerly at workshops about battery technology, off-grid PV, solar thermal, small wind, and naturalbuilding methods. I talk with vendors providing supplies and products to off-grid and back-to-the-land dwellers to learn about what was good,what wasn’t, and to talk shop about technology innovations coming downthe line, like LED lighting and home automation (both which have arrived now).

I have actively volunteered at SolarFest for several years at thepower station, as a onsite volunteer wrangler, and a general go-toperson. SolarFest has grown and changed much since those Daisy HollowDays, but it still excels at its core mission- providing renewableenergy education through the arts through dozens of workshop tracks andmusic performances powered by a 100% solar stage.

SolarFest has been a highlight of my summer for years. Enthusiasts,industry people, and the sustainability-curious all find a place atSolarFest. Why not check it out for yourself and see why?

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