Jan 15: Green Drinks with Vox Energy Solutions.

Solar to Wind - Homeowners to Communities to Commercial Applications

Hal Saville, a project consultant for Vox Energy Solutions, attended Penn State in Solar, Energy Conservation and Architectural Engineering Technology. In addition to training with Solar Energy International (SEI) last year, Hal lobbied local legislators to pass the State Renewable Energy incentives and authored Conservation Consultants’ Solar Installer Training Program grant proposal. The proposal yielded ~ $200,000 to launch this successful program which trains new green professionals. Hal is also active in the local green jobs movement, teaching a green jobs seminar and “Go Solar at Home” class for homeowners interested in utilizing solar energy at Butler County Community College.

Vox Energy Solutions, located in Pittsburgh’s North Hills is a full-service alternative energy installer. In addition to providing energy audits, they design, install and maintain photovoltaic, solar thermal and wind turbine systems for residential, institutional and commercial clients. In the last two years, as a new subsidiary of Vox Communications, a 20-year-old telecom tower installation firm, they have installed over 40kW of solar electric throughout Western Pennsylvania as well as several solar thermal systems.

They recently contracted with the City of Pittsburgh to provide solar thermal systems at one city fire station and have proposed four more in coming months. And they just completed their largest PV project, 10.6kW on the Regional Enterprise Building, considered the first major solar installation in Pittsburgh’s Downtown “Golden Triangle”, realizing its Solar America City status through a U.S. Dept. of Energy partnership.

Several Vox staff have trained with Solar Energy International (SEI ) and are working toward their NABCEP installer certification. Their installation team includes union electricians from the IBEW, Local #5. They were also recently certified as a WDBE with Allegheny County.

Vox would like to thank Conservation Consultants for hosting Green Drinks and giving us the opportunity to tour its LEED-Certified Building (weather permitting) which features three PV arrays, a solar-thermal hot-water heating system as well as a green roof.

Please come shoot the breeze with us on January 15th and enjoy the warmth of green friends. Food and Drink provided by Vox.

5-9 p.m. at Conservation Consultants, Inc , 64 South 14th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203; (412) 431-4449. CCI has requested that those planning to attend RSVP to Indigo Raffel via e-mail at indigor@ccicenter.org. If you are dropping in at the last minute, that's okay. Get directions; for Port Authority Bus Routes, http://www.portauthority.org (E. Carson St. at 12th). For more information, email pittsburghgreendrinks@gmail.com.

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What is Green Drinks?
Every month, people who work in the environmental field or have in interest in a greener planet meet up for drinks at places all around the world at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there's always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organizing network.

These events are simple and unstructured. Make friends, develop new ideas, do deals and forge a new organic future. It's a force for the good and we'd like to help its spreading to other cities. Green Drinks meets on the 3rd Friday of each month from 5:00 - 9:00 PM...or later!! Put it in your calendar and count on it: Green Drinks is happening every month.

Save the Date 2010: February 19, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16, August 20, September 17, October 15, November 19, December 17.