2008

High Noon Solar prides itself on the values of being active community members who participate in the events which help make the Western Slope of Colorado a unique blending of cultures and expressions.

As a company, we initiate and participate in as many educational events which create an environment of inquiry about what our company does and how to make the world around us a better place.  In addition, we believe it is our responsibility to give back to the community when the opportunities and funds arise to allow this. 

Listed below are just a few of the events, donations, programs, and festivals High Noon Solar commits to.  We believe that the more we put into the world around us, the more we all can receive in healthy, quality of life benefits.

High Noon Solar is spearheading the annual Earth Day Event in Grand Junction, Colorado this year.

The Mesa County Fairgrounds will be playing host to the numerous booths of vendors from the green product and services industry, local artisans, musicians, drummers, nonprofits, dancers, and food and drink vendors.  The event will be held on April 19th, 2008, Saturday, from 11am- 5pm at the Mesa County Fairgrounds.  The event will be free and open to the public with a facilitated community drumming circle at noon, live music, arts & crafts demonstrations, belly dancing, kids’ activities, and a plethora of information from companies and organizations that can help you make a positive difference in your world.

High Noon Solar has donated the rental fees for the location of the event, time to organize the vendors, demonstrators, and performers, as well as advertising time and materials.  We have bought posters and postcards to hand out and display as marketing materials to insure that this event is a wonderful success!  Earth Day is a grassroots event that High Noon Solar feels should be celebrated fully by all members of the community and we are happy to consider ourselves a major contributor to the celebration.

High Noon Solar will be installing a solar electric grid tie on KAFM’s roof near the end of March, 2008

As a mixture of rebates available, trade for underwriting, and excitement for solar, KAFM, the local community radio station in Grand Junction will be getting its very own solar grid tie to power its broadcasting room. 

High Noon Solar will be installing a solar electric grid tie on KAFM’s roof near the end of March, 2008 to coincide with their fund raiser.  This solar system will be powering the broadcasting room at KAFM and it gives this local radio station a wonderful opportunity to inspire their community listeners to be more mindful of energy usage and their sources of energy.  Congratulations, KAFM, on your brand new clean power!

2008 marks the 3rd annual Renewable Energy Fair for local middle school students in the Grand Junction area.

High Noon Solar and other Colorado solar companies set up informative stations about renewable energy (solar electricity, solar thermal, and wind), conservation, electric vehicles, and passive solar which middle school students rotate through to learn more about the subject.

Each of the 5- 7 stations offers a 15- 20 minute interactive examination of the subject matter, presented by High Noon Solar or other local solar installation companies such as Sunsense of Carbondale and Authentic Energy of Gunnison. 

The event is held the first or second Friday of April and will be held on April 11th, 2008 this year at the Mesa County Fairgrounds, which brags of its very own solar electric grid tie installation. 

150- 200 students are traditionally involved and the event is held in conjunction with the Home Energy Inspection Competition hosted by the Colorado Energy Science Center at the same location.  High Noon Solar understands the importance of education in renewable energy options as early as possible in our next generation’s development and we are happy to donate time and materials to organize such an event.

Local middle school students in the Grand Junction area were invited to participate in the High Noon Solar sponsored ‘Solar-Powered Classroom Challenge’ late in 2007.

This competition offered students an opportunity to design the very solar system they could win for their schools.  The design involved incorporating a 2.16 KW solar grid tie into their school’s design, noting the immediate and long term benefits of the solar system and asking for a teacher proposal of how such a system would be incorporated into future classrooms and how it would be used as a teaching tool for years to come.

Three middle schools submitted proposals, which were judged by 3 judges from solar companies located outside of Mesa County.  A school was declared a winner by the judges and we are currently waiting for the winning school to give us the green flag to donate this solar system to the winning students’ school.  At that time we will be announcing the winner to the schools who participated and to the community at large.

Former Construction Chairman for Habitat for Humanity, Dave Lame, approached High Noon Solar at the Grand Junction Farmer's Market, wondering if solar electric systems could ever be feasible for Habitat for Humanity homes.

Numerous meetings and calculations later, Habitat for Humanity realized the payback time and positive environmental impact, as well as the reduction of bills for the new homeowner, was a good incentive to add solar to the 2 homes they were building in the Riverside area of Grand Junction.  Because the Habitat homes are built with so much energy conservation in mind, a smaller size grid tie (a 2.16 KW system) was added on to each of the two homes.

High Noon Solar donated a portion of the products and their labor for this project.

Touring homes which have actually incorporated solar systems can be an invaluable learning tool for people who are interested but who want to truly see the practical side of using solar technology.

High Noon Solar has hosted 3 solar home tours, which are free to the public, within the last 3 years.  Turnout has reached over 150 participants per tour and homeowners can offer enthusiastic testimonials to the true performance of their systems. 

High Noon Solar will continue to organize these home tours to create a hands on opportunity for community members to see solar at work.

The Western State College Environmental Studies group approached Cory Sullivan, of High Noon Solar, after a presentation he made to their class about solar.

A group of the students were taking a trip to Africa and wondered if High Noon Solar could help in any way.  High Noon Solar decided to donate a 115 watt Evergreen solar panel and five 4 watt LED lights, as well as some wire, spare parts, schematics, and an education day at High Noon Solar's shop.  The LED lights were installed and used for bandas, a kitchen, and the dining hall in the Western Kenya rainforest.

While the students were visiting the village, they helped fix two other solar systems in the area that were no longer working.  For more information about this project, click here.

2008 marks the third year High Noon Solar will participate in the Grand Junction Downtown Farmers’ Market.

Every Thursday evening, from mid June to mid September, High Noon Solar sets up their booth with many other local vendors to answer any questions you may have about solar, conservation efforts, and any other renewable energy related topic. 

High Noon Solar also participates in the Palisade Peach Festival to help reach even more members of the community.  Come visit us at the Farmers’ Market Thursday nights during summer to have all of your renewable energy questions answered.