National Plug-In Day

Learn, ride, and drive "electric" at The Franklin Institute!

Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 1200PM-4:00PM
Free with Museum Admission

National Plug-In Day is a nationwide celebration designed to heighten awareness of plug-in vehicles and highlight the environmental and other benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The second annual event will take the form of simultaneous electric vehicle activities staged in more than 50 cities coast to coast. National Plug-In Day 2012 is being organized by Plug-In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association.

This year's Philadelphia event, coordinated by Renew America Roadtrip, will be held at The Franklin Institute on Sunday, September 23 from 12:00PM-4:00PM.

Activities include:

12:00PM-4:00PM - "Ride and Drive" opportunities in many of the popular new production electric cars including the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi Miev, Toyota Plug-In Prius, Honda Insight FC, as well as electric motor bikes, scooters, hybrid bicycles, and Segways. Raffles for rides in select limited edition electric vehicles on display including the Tesla Roadster and the Fisker Karma.

12:30PM - Global Warming Science, presented by renowned environmental educator Richard Whiteford.

1:00PM - The Politics of Energy, presented by Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Signing of his new book A Nation of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great to follow.

2:00PM - City council citation presentation declaring September 23 National Plug-In Day in Philadelphia.

3:00PM - Revenge of the Electric Car movie screening—a lively and fun documentary about the road we have traveled to get to where we are with electric vehicles today.

12:00PM-4:00PM - Demonstrations of residential and business charging solutions by Ecotality.

12:00PM-4:00PM - The Tesla Science Foundation illustrates the science behind electric vehicles, including a live Tesla coil and wireless power demonstration.

12:00PM-4:00PM - Information and demonstrations provided by PECO Energy, Solar Journey USA, Advanced Solar Industries, Mom's Clean Air Force, Clean Air Council and more!

The event plus screening is free with general admission to The Franklin Institute. Advance registration is not required. Seating for the 3:00PM screening of Revenge of the Electric Car in Demonstration Theater is first come, first serve.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Frenchtown Green Fair - Saturday September 29

Coming Soon - the electric Miata will buzz down to Frenchtown (note "ELECTRIC CAR" is a featured display per the beautiful poster by local designer John Gattuso) for the first-ever Green Fair right in Bucks County Renewables' own stomping grounds! Though I am in fact a resident of the eponymous Pennsylvania county, in my non-EV incarnation I run a nonprofit Montessori school in Frenchtown. In fact, this festival will take place right across the street from where I work and twelve minutes from my house! Now that is what I call beautifullylocal.

The Green Fair is bound to be a great family day, filled with information, kids' crafts, vending & fun. All on a much smaller scale than our beloved & much-mourned 3-day Energy Fest in Kempton, but I do want to encourage all EV folks who are missing having a good dose of green thinking this September to come out for a visit -- bring your EV's if you care to (120v charging available). Frenchtown is a charming river town on the Delaware, with downtown shopping & outdoor activities to explore for those who want to make a weekend stay out of a visit to the area.

I'm a member of the municipal Green Team, a volunteer group that has been working for over two years to earn Sustainable Jersey certification for Frenchtown. The Green Fair, along with many other sustainability initiatives (a free Green Film series, an elementary school art project to decorate municipal recycling barrels & the development of a community garden to name a varied few), will help Frenchtown achieve recognition as an environmentally-conscious community & qualify for grants that will, in turn, help green the town further.

The Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Association has been very friendly about sharing information & support during our planning phase and will have a booth at the Green Fair as well. Hope to see you there!

Topic the Second:

JILTED*!

FOR SALE:

BUCKS COUNTY RENEWABLES' SIGNATURE VEHICLE, THE E-VANAGON

*It's true everybody. It's a long story, but it's true. It's a complicated tale of multiple Vanagon love. It might even be coming to this blog soon. ("Soon" having its usual elastic operating definition per Bucks County Renewables tradition.)

The good news is, I will definitely post it as soon as the e-Vanagon, formerly known as "die Sprite" sells, because then it will have a happy ending! SO if you like love stories with happy endings, let all your would-be EV-driving friends know that one of the funkier project vehicles around is definitely available... having been recently thrown over for (gasp!) ... no wait it's a big surprise.

No batteries = no juice, does not run! Pop in new lead-acid batts or convert to lithium.

$8000 firm only to readers of this blog (& their friends) ...

"list" (i.e. Craigslist) price is a nice round $10K.

Everybody likes love stories with happy endings all around! And practically everybody likes & in fact actively desires an orange electric Vanagon, somewhere deep down inside them. Of this I am sure.