SoCal Branch Year 4 LEAF-Gatherings - See Year 5

[Kataphn]

Connie and I will be at Solar Decathlon this coming Saturday, probably around opening time of 11 am. We could park the PiP at one of the houses and "charge" using the OEM brick if they want (could be a fake charging if they don't have a spare outlet: for show only) while we tour the other houses. Would need assurance that cable and brick would be secured so no one would walk off with it during our absence. If getting there sooner to be in place prior to public opening is required to pull this off, we can do that.

[garygid]

OK, I will maintain a list for the Solar Decathlon Event here:
If we can "participate" in some way,
I will note that here as well.

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Links:
http://the-xpo.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Thu 3 Oct
Jeremy in morning?

Fri 4 Oct
Gary and Rob LEAF

Sat 5 Oct
Kat PiP about 11 AM
Gary? LEAF

Sun 6 Oct
10:30 Gathering before 11 opening.
Meet at the new Solar Decathlon entrance on Trabuco,
($5 per car) no special parking arranged, sorry.
Phil LEAF
Gary LEAF
Dori LEAF
Tom LEAF
JasonA LEAF

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Thu 10 Oct

Fri 11 Oct

Sat 12 Oct

Sun 13 Oct

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Cheers, Gary

[garygid]

It looks like a new entrance to the Great Park will be used to
handle the traffic and parking ($5 fee) for the Solar Decathlon.
They describe an entrance using Jeffery north from I5 to
Trabuco, going right (southish) to the new entrance.

Perhaps exhibitors and volunteers will enter as I described
previously, from Sand Canyon Road, just barely east of
the I5 freeway.

I will check it out, and attempt to get parking passes
for our "volunteers" or "exibitors".
(none available for us)

[garygid]

With 20 entries ("houses") to tour, leave plenty of time.
Apparently, many special events are scheduled.

A map of the housing entries:
http://www.solardecathlon.gov/village_map.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JasonA]

20 houses and no solar power hookups

When they emailed me back with the response I was disappointed.. panels on every roof but no juice??

Very unGreen...

[garygid]

I am guessing that the main visitor parking will be a shuttle ride
from the Solar houses, and that the main exhibits will be in
the nearby large airplane-hanger building.

No word yet from the organizers on getting special parking,
or parking inside near the Solar houses, or the exhibition hall.

[JasonA]

Bringing the Leaf.. always the Leaf!!

If we could be allowed to park inside and around the main area or is Plug-in-American wanting volunteers to come in?

That would be cool!!

[richard]

Bringing the Leaf.. always the Leaf!!

If we could be allowed to park inside and around the main area or is Plug-in-American wanting volunteers to come in?

That would be cool!!

Plug In America has booth #112 inside the SunShot Pavilion. Some info has been posted to a Solar Decathlon thread here and another update today here.

We can use more volunteers on any day of the event, but these are our most critical timeslots right now:

Oct 10th
3p-7p

Oct 11th
11a-3p
3p-7p

Oct 12th
11a-3p
3p-7p

Oct 13th
11a-3p

If any volunteer wants to PM me their email address, I can include it in our next volunteer update email. I'll be sending another one out this afternoon to report on the booth setup.

Thanks.

[garygid]

No word yet from the Solar Decathlon about special
parking for our LEAFs.

The event opens at 11 AM this (Thursday) morning, 3 Oct.

If you apply on-line to become a Volunteer, I suspect that
you get to park in a free volunteer parking area, reached
from the entrance under I5, and get a t-shirt.

However, there are hoops to jump through, forms
(medical and liability releases), and at least an online
training video, an hour long. Work shifts are generally
5 hours, 10:00 to 3:00 or 2:30 to 7:30 PM, I believe.

There are many specific tasks, and some require lifting
and being on your feet.

For all, sunblock is strongly recommended, since there
is very little shade and it might be "cooking".

[garygid]

Look up
Solar Decathlon Great Park
and there is a lot of info, especially under Volunteers.
A 44 page pdf provides color pictures of all the
Solar home enrties.

The solar homes will not want to provide charging because
10% of the 1000 contest points are awarded by generating
more energy than they use.

There are special event bus routes, for $1 or $2 per person.
One is from the Metro rail station, bus free to metro riders.
Another route starts at UC Irvine, with another pickup
at the Irvine Spectrum, where there might be covered parking.

The main event parking, $5 per vehicle, is efficient if
there are passengers, even if you are attending more
than twice, but the parking is in the full sun.

It is not worth becoming a Volunteer just to get free parking.
However, being a Volunteer for several shifts at this rare
event is a great way to give to the world. Volunteers
will be very busy for their 5-hour shift, so plan for
other, non-shift visiting hours.

There are lots of things to see, and a quick 2 hour visit
would appear to give one barely an overview.