o What: 19th annual Clark Public Utilities Home and Garden Idea Fair.
o When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
o Where: Clark County Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.
o Cost: Free with suggested donation of two cans of food for Clark County food banks; cash donations also will be accepted for Operation Warm Heart. Parking is $6 per car.
o Info: 360-992-3000 or http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/community/hgif.
Conserving energy doesn’t take an act of Congress. In the spirit of Jimmy Carter, who once asked Americans to turn down their heaters and put on their sweaters, Clark Public Utilities stresses in its annual Home and Garden Idea Fair that there are many simple steps that everyone can take to save power.
o What: 19th annual Clark Public Utilities Home and Garden Idea Fair.
o When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
o Where: Clark County Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.
o Cost: Free with suggested donation of two cans of food for Clark County food banks; cash donations also will be accepted for Operation Warm Heart. Parking is $6 per car.
o Info: 360-992-3000 or http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/community/hgif.
The customer-owned utilities, which provides electricity and water throughout Clark County, offers various cash incentives to locals who make energy-saving upgrades to their homes and properties. This 19th annual fair features an Energy Smart Home display, created by New Traditions Homes, built to high environmental standards, as well as several informational booths related to conservation issues.
The event, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Clark County Fairgrounds — also offers the area’s largest plant sale of the year, with more than 60 Northwest-based horticultural vendors accompanying the roughly 300 other booths that feature home improvement ideas and supplies.
“Everybody realizes that electricity, like water, is a valuable resource, and it doesn’t make sense to waste those,” said Mick Shutt, corporate communications manager for the utilities. “We want to provide a forum where we can talk about utilities issues and energy conservation, where we can set up utilities exhibits and show how things work and where we can highlight the programs and services we offer, talking about renewable energy and opportunities to buy green energy.”
The Energy Smart Home display, for example, features argon-filled windows, compact fluorescent lighting throughout, a Rinnai tankless water heater, a high-efficiency furnace, a heat pump and a solar water heating system. The roof has enough photovoltaic panels to generate electricity for the house.
Of the district’s 182,000 customers, Shutt said, only 19 generate some power for themselves. And there is just one person in Clark County right now that actually has come close to “net zero,” Shutt said, which means they are essentially off the grid and even sometimes provide power back to the system. Such statistics show a lot of room for improvement.
Frontier Landscaping also participated in the Smart Home display, installing Northwest native plants around the house, as well as energy- and water-saving landscape materials.
Variety of topics
Daily presentations will be offered on a variety of home and garden topics, including “green” remodeling, composting basics, creating a victory garden and learning to live sustainably on a budget.
Besides staff from Clark Public Utilities, representatives from the StreamTeam, the Audubon Society, Clark County Weed Management, Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center and the Urban Forestry Commission, among several other local conservation or environmental organizations, will be on site.
The show, the largest outreach event of the year for the utilities district, doesn’t make a profit, but it has major value for the organization in terms of connecting with its customers, who also are its owners.
“There are a whole lot of things you can do” to conserve energy, Shutt said. “Windows, insulation, heating systems, appliances, lighting. … We’ve tried to make this a really high-quality show, that’s more than just somebody selling space. The idea is more (for customers) to be able to ask questions, and for us to be able to interact with customers.”
