Zak Wood/Colorado Daily

SunEdison employee and CU grad Scott Regenthal, right, replies to a question by CU professor Matt Benjamin, left, regarding solar energy Thursday afternoon in a mobile pavilion located in the Staples parking lot. SunEdison is part of a “City Tour for Solar” which is travelling to 50 cities in 100 days informing the public of the benefits of solar energy.

A 50-cities-in-100-days tour landed in Boulder Thursday, but it wasn’t for the Dave Matthews Band.

Instead, people stopping by the Staples outlet at Boulder’s Twenty Ninth Street retail center saw a big tent in the parking lot, and inside the tent, visitors could check out displays equipped with all kinds of information about solar energy. SunEdison, North America’s largest solar energy services provider, is the lead sponsor of the 50-city Solar City Tour, but four other solar or energy-related firms signed on as partners.

Also, there was a reason why the solar-powered tent, full of electronic displays, stood outside of Staples. Chris Nichols, Senior Marketing Manager for the Solar City Tour, said the national office supply retailer has made a commitment to solar and other environmentally-friendly practices – and it will supply “green” business supplies for this year’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) delegates.

“Staples is one of SunEdison’s biggest solar customers, and they’re very progressive,” said Nichols. “They’re trying to coat every rooftop that’s viable across the country, starting here in the West. They’re looking at every store, checking its footprint, and if it’s viable they’ll put solar on the rooftop to support Staples’ own energy use, and then feed it back into the grid of that community.”

Inside the tent, visitors had the chance to watch video that included clips concerning SunEdison solar installations in Colorado, such as a project in Rifle and a gigantic 8.2-megawatt (MW) array in the San Luis Valley. SunEdison specializes in projects for commercial, government or utility customers – as opposed to residential projects.

Several Solar City Tour displays also explained the basic three-step process SunEdison customers will go through.

First, the firm will tackle customized planning and finance, by analyzing issues such as solar access and financial viability. Second, it will take on certification and activation responsibilities, since solar projects must meet electrical and building code standards. Third, it will handle monitoring and maintenance for a contractually agreed period of time after the solar switch is first flipped to the “on” position.

Solar Tour visitors could also play the touch-screen “Solar Energy Game,” and answer quiz questions about solar potential in a given metropolitan area. The game revealed that 3,400 buildings in Denver could support a commercial-scale project, or that “very sunny and very cold” weather is actually more favorable for solar generation than very sunny and very hot weather.

Visitors also had a chance to see products from the other Solar Tour industry partners – Xantrex, United Solar Ovonic LLC, Evergreen Solar and SMA America.

Xantrex supplied one of its power inverters, which takes the Direct Current (DC) juice that solar panels generate and converts it to the Alternating Current (AC) that comes out of our wall outlets. United Solar Ovonic LLC showed off its “UNI-SOLAR” flexible thin-film solar product, which can actually be placed like a mat on top of curved roofing surfaces.

Nichols said the Solar Tour touched down in Boulder for several reasons, including the environmental consciousness of its residents.

“Boulder has a huge presence in the state as a leader on a whole host of progressive issues, including health care, public space, the environment and energy,” said Nichols. “It’s got a very progressive City Council, the citizens are really on top of their environmental activities and their carbon footprints, and we thought Boulder was definitely the place to be.”

In fact, it’s probably going to be the place to be again, in the very near future. Nichols said she is working on permission to set up another Solar Fest, possibly on Sept. 5, possibly on the CU-Boulder campus or the Pearl Street Mall.

She also said a second appearance will give the solar advocates a better chance to meet with CU students, since many of them are in the process of settling in for fall semester. She added that many of the young adults she deals with are very enthusiastic about solar.

“We don’t drive Model T’s anymore and we don’t talk to each other on crank phones, so why should we use our grandparents’ energy supply?” asked Nichols. “The young people are definitely looking to energy solutions for a young generation, and they’re going to be the leaders who take us into the sustainable energy future we all deserve.”

FYI

For more information about the Solar City Tour, visit the Web site http://www.CityTourforSolar.com.

Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126, or valenty@coloradodaily.com.