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. 

Heads Up There Is So Much!

As summer draws to an end we here at Bucks County Renewables would normally be looking ahead to the annual Energy Fest in Kempton PA.  However, in July it was announced that the Board of MAREA had decided not to pursue mounting it in the face of a significant drop-off in vendor registration.  All vendor fees that had been received were promptly refunded & exhibitors were very graciously thanked for their participation in what has been a wonderful, long-running grassroots effort to bring something that was outside of the mainstream further in. 

In my opinion that Board made a sensible decision.  Competition from the much-larger Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs which -- for the first time -- is occuring on the same date) was sure to diminish the revenue from a festival funded exclusively by vendor fees, admissions & a few small grants & sponsored by a very small but closeknit & effective nonprofit organization.  By honorably choosing to protect all its members from the risks of losing money by putting on the Energy Fest, MAREA has preserved both financial resources & energy to pursue their other grassroots educational projects, such as the solar hot water for Opportunity House in Reading, PA; their wonderful monthly speaker series; and many other community projects & workshops.

These are exciting times for the organization, though it was sad for those of us who cherish Kempton to give it up!  Fortunately for EV'ers who wouldn't dream of missing a weekend opportunity to haul their EV somewhere out of range & camp out for a few days talking their throats hoarse with each other & the general public, our friends in WESTERN Pennsylvania, PA Electrics & Three Rivers EVA, are organizing EV owners from Pittsburgh to Philly & beyond to come together and show their cars at the Mother Earth News Fair -- vehicle exhibitors have the $20 daily entrance fee waived.  

Seven Springs is admittedly a lot farther away than Kempton from us here in southeastern parts.  Folks from Three Rivers EVA are making plans to gather their right now, including Jon Belak & his family who have joined us two or three years in a row at Kempton with an array of sweet vehicles.  This is a great opportunity to make a connection going in the other direction! 
 
I wish I could be there but I can't get away -- being retired from the EV world is sometimes a bummer, though as a (huge) consolation I get to drive a Vanagon (yes, a GAS one).  Meanwhile the Miata really is being driven by M, who loves driving it & loves tweaking it.  Liquid cooled controller upgrade anyone?  He won't let me take any pictures though, and that's okay; it's his car now.

Here is the other big news: because I am a fickle woman & only truly love a Vanagon that runs,  I am selling off the e-Van!  I didn't mean to do it yet but Saint Bill totally jumped the gun on me and put a Craigslist ad out on it when I merely mentioned the idea back on August 13.  We have had no nibbles yet which is fine as I am busy busy busy.  But, I am not going to let any old random person from Craigslist buy the e-Van for $10,000 when I could have someone who actually read this blog pay $8K only, so here finally is the ad (it's kinda buried at the end of this post which is the point).

I know there is somebody out there who is really jonesing for an orange electric Vanagon.  This one's lead-acid batteries are shot & it's a perfect candidate for upgrading to lithium-ion, in which case WHO KNOWS HOW MUCH FUN YOU COULD HAVE.

Don't call me on the phone!  I am on voice rest.  Email jisaacs at buckscountyrenewables.com if you are interested.