San Antonio joins world's largest solar energy event.

Part of the largest solar event in the world, San Antonio's first-ever Solar Tour, made its debut through the efforts of Solar San Antonio and the American Solar Energy Society. On Saturday, October 4, 2008 from noon to 6 p.m. participants throughout Bexar County embarked on self-guided tours to see how neighbors are using solar energy and energy efficiency to reduce their monthly utility bills and help tackle climate change. According to Bill Barker, Executive Director of Solar San Antonio, "The real value in this event is that people can see solar in present use today. It's not a demonstration project, but a practical and real-world display of how solar is already impacting the way we produce energy."

San Antonio's Solar Tour

Annually, the first Saturday in October

Self-guided tours, free to the public

Nationwide, the annual tour boasts more than 115,000 attendees  visiting some 5,000 buildings in 2900 participating communities. This year in San Antonio, ten homes and buildings provided real world examples of solar energy use in Bexar County including photovoltaics (PV), solar hot water heating, solar attic fans and other sustainable features.

This now annual event is free and open to the public. A program is available for download on this site and provides a map, site addresses and system descriptions. You may also visit www.NationalSolarTour.org to learn more.

We'd like to thank the homeowners and businesses that made this tour possible! We ask that visitors on the tour please be considerate of neighboring properties and park with courtesy. The work of the following vendors was on display on the 2008 tour:

Ecowatt Design (866) 956-3269
Meridian Energy Systems (866) 913-5641
Novastar (210) 391-4009
The Power Store/Solar Specialty Products (210) 695-8990
Solar Texas (210) 669-2504