Tour #1 – Solar Niagara!
Saturday, May 16
8:30am to 4:45pm
Registration Fee:  $115 before April 1, $125 after April 1, $135 on-site
Registration includes lunch, snacks, admission fees and transportation
Some varied examples of solar and alternative energy installations will be featured on this tour.
     Your first stop will be the River Rock Campus Housing Complex, a good example of the re-use of an old air conditionaing manufacturing facility in Buffalo, will soon be home to many college students. In addition to their overall goal of emphasizing energy efficiency, the developer will heat and cool the facility with bio-diesel fuel converted from ‘french-fry’ grease. Currently they are using this fuel to power service vehicles. Future plans call for solar panels and possibly a wind mill.
     The next stop is a 2-story, modern office building, corporate home of the award-winning international design firm Cannon Design. Cannon is in the process of renovating their building to incorporate ‘green’ technologies in order to achieve LEED certification which will include a 25kW solar array, air quality testing, zero irrigation landscaping, daylighting-responsive controls, low-VOC materials and certified wood . The tour will get an indepth look at the renovation process , cost effective ways to green an existing office and how incentive programs were used to allow the installation of a 25kW solar array with less than a four year pay back.
     Lunch will be at the new Burchfield Penney Art Center. The Burchfield Penney is the first art museum in New York State slated for LEED silver certification. It is home to the world’s largest collection of work by famed American watercolorist Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967) as well as his art studio and thousands of sketches. In addition to Burchfield, the collection includes 7500 works by more than 600 artists, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Cindy Sherman, Susan Rothenberg, Robert Longo, Elbert Hubbard and Gustav Stickley. Buffalo was recently voted one of America’s top arts destination by American Style, the magazine for art collectors and travelers.
     Your final stop will be at the University of Buffalo’s  Norton Hall, where you can observe the 73.5kW photovoltaic solar electric array from ‘solar lounge’ on the 3rd floor of the Science and Engineering Library. The PV array is part of the University’s overall commitment towards energy efficency, including solar powered golf carts for use by university service technicians, solar-powered walkway light(s) and an LED lighting demonstration. Your tour guides can answer questions about the PV installation, monitoring and maintenance of the efforts to conserve energy on the campus.