Illinois Solar Tour Comes to Elmhurst

Homeowners with renewable energy installations, including two in Elmhurst, will open their homes to the public on Sat., Sept. 22, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., to share their passion, knowledge and experience of owning and living with renewable energy.

The Illinois Solar Energy Association’s (ISEA) Illinois Solar Tour is part of the American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) National Solar Tour event, “the largest grassroots solar event in history.” More than 160,000 participants will visit some 5,500 buildings in 3,200 communities across the U.S. on tour day.

Homeowners will be available at each site to provide information, share experiences and answer questions.
According to ISEA, Illinois is on the verge of a solar energy boom thanks to the implementation of new legislation, making the tour a great way to learn about how to take advantage of the opportunities this affords.
Tour attendees will learn: how homeowners are utilizing solar and other clean energies to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and to become energy independent; why individual homeowners chose solar, the process, and lessons learned; how different clean technologies are used, installed, and work together. Homeowners will also provide information on costs and savings for their solar systems.

The tour is free, and organized like an open house. Attendees choose which homes to visit, how many, and when, within the tour timeframe. Each host site tour will take anywhere from 15-45 minutes, depending on the size of the site and the number of renewable energy installations.

“With price decreases for solar over the last couple of decades, it finally became within reach of our budget to purchase a system,” says Elmhurst homeowner and tour participant Dan Virgil. “It will save us money in the long run. We have essentially prepaid our electricity bill for the next few decades, insulating us from rate increases from the utility company.”

To learn more about the two homes in Elmhurst, as well as other tour homes in DuPage, visit http://www.illinoissolartour.org/Sites/Northern.html

To register, visit https://illinoissolar.org/event-2949642/Registration. Registration is not required, but registrants are eligible to win a free solar cell phone charger.