Solar Days 2011

Yesterday we had our open door day, and that was good fun again. Unfortunately the local newspapers ignored the Solar Days this year, and the supermarket around the corner removed my small poster – twice. Considering the lack of publicity I feared that no one would show up but it turned out okay. In total, seven people made it to our house.

I was able to show these people how solar panels work, what it costs and what it yields. One of the visitors was trend watcher Vincent Evers () who travelled with his two young children all the way to Hilversum from Amsterdam in his Nissan Leaf (of which you can see the live status online) to see out solar panels in action. He even interviewed me, when that movie comes online I’ll update this article with a link to it.

Everything considered it was an enjoyable day, with people in the house from about half past one to five. I showed everybody the inverters, and also our electricity meter which was spinning backwards during the sunny periods between the clouds. I used the Plugwise system to show the visitors the live performance or our system. A few people also took a look at the rain water collection system which I’m building and thought that was pretty cool.

Next year I’ll have to approach the local media earlier, and I’ll also have to find better spots for my posters.