Green Expo will feature energy-saving options

Citizens Green Team hoping for 50 vendors

Friday, Sept. 4, 2009

At a time when a weakened economy has Americans scurrying to save every penny they can, there are dozens of opportunities for individuals to save on energy and utility costs.

Unfortunately for the average consumer, many of these "green" options have yet to enter the mainstream marketplace and remain veiled in obscurity.

The Calvert County Citizens Green Team hopes to lift that veil at the inaugural Calvert County Green Expo, to be held on Sept. 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard.

The Green Expo will be the first major event held by the citizens green team, a grassroots organization established following vast community interest in the Calvert County Green Team, which was created in September 2008 by the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners to make county operations more energy efficient.

For residents, the expo will offer an opportunity to learn about some of the available technologies that could help cut down on their utility bills, especially heading into the fall and winter months.

"I think a lot of people have heard about these energy-savings devices but they've never had a chance to see them or what kind of savings would accrue," said county Department of Planning and Zoning Director Greg Bowen, a member of both the county and citizens green teams. "The main focus will be on citizens, to let them know about green options. But also for businesses, it gives them the chance to tell people how their products work."

"I would call this ‘beyond green,'" said Dennis DiBello, president and chief inspector of American Property Consultants in St. Leonard and a member of the citizens green team. DiBello performs household energy audits and believes the term "green" has become a cliche, but he also knows how much savings can pile up as a result of "green" technology.

"We're really trying to make this an all-encompassing green expo," he said. "There's so much to this. Being green is more than just Earth Day. It's everybody doing some part of it."

DiBello said that the goal of 50 vendors has already been met and that the green team is scrambling to make room for more.

One of the products he is excited to see is a remote-controlled power strip, which will make it easier for consumers who don't feel like manually switching off their power strips to turn them off when they're not being used.

"You can sit there and add another remote control to your pile," DiBello said.

Demonstrations will be given by, among others, the Calvert County Master Gardeners, American Property Consultants, and SMECO, which will have information regarding its new energy efficiency plans that were recently approved by the state Public Service Commission. The plans were drafted in accordance with Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) EmPOWER Maryland initiative, which set a goal of reducing the state's energy consumption by 15 percent by 2015.

Bowen said that while he'll attend primarily as a green team member, he's already identified a few things he'd like to sneak a peek at, including geothermal technology, solar panels and a new technique for household water heating he said was called "indirect fired domestic hot water tanks," which are small units placed directly next to a sink or shower that replace the big water tank many people have in their basement. Instead of the big tank that has to remain heated, the small units will be heated only when someone turns on hot water, Bowen said.

Other than signing more vendors, inking a keynote speaker is the only thing left to do, DiBello said.

A key part of planning the expo was finding a venue that could host such an event.

While there were a few locations under early consideration, Bowen said that upon being asked if it they were interested, staff at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum instantly said "we are the perfect place, and we'd be happy to help," Bowen said. It wasn't long before the park was also co-sponsoring the expo.

Based on the interest expressed thus far, the citizens green team is expecting the expo to be a smash hit, and DiBello said planning will begin for the second annual expo once the first one is over.

Considerations have already been given to combining next year's expo with other local, environmentally-focused events, such as former-State Senator Bernie Fowler's annual wade-in, DiBello said.

The citizens green team is comprised of a "well-rounded bunch" of individuals, including real estate agents, retailers and engineers, Bowen said.

While the expo is the largest event the team has planned, perhaps its most important duty is to provide advice and feedback to the county green team.

"I think part of it is they provide energy to the group because they're always looking for ideas," Bowen said of the citizens green team. "They've been in place less than a year and we hope to continue together and share and make Calvert County a cleaner, better place to live."

jnewman@somdnews.com