The Illinois Geothermal Tour is the GAOI’s contribution to our effort to tell the world about geothermal in our state!
We expect the governor to declare Saturday, September 21 as Geothermal Heat Pump day in Illinois. We will do extensive media outreach on the tour and will have a web site presence that all GAOI members can link to. We hope that all GAOI members, especially the installing contractor members, will be hosts for an open house that day.
The GAOI’s goal is to organize a series of open house events at homes and businesses with geothermal systems. The events will be open to the public from 10 am to 3 pm that day. We’re calling this the Illinois Geothermal Tour!
Open house events must be coordinated/sponsored by a GAOI member-organization. A typical site would be a house with a relatively new geothermal installation. The installing contractor would be the sponsoring organization. Prior to the event, all sponsoring organizations and the GAOI will work to communicate the event and generally get the word out about the Tour. On the 21st , the sponsor would make sure signs are in place, then will be on site to meet with individuals who attend that day, pass out literature, etc. We would encourage contractors to join with their electric utility, equipment supplier, driller, etc., to co-sponsor these events.
The cost per GAOI member is $200 to co-sponsor the Tour. A sponsor can host as many open house events as they would like, or are capable of handling. So, a contractor in Bloomington can register as a sponsor for $200, but actually hold events at homes in Bloomington, Lincoln and El Paso … as well as a business in Heyworth. The more the merrier!
Each of these locations will be identified on the Illinois Geothermal Tour web site.
The GAOI will provide event sponsors with PR outreach materials such as news releases and advertising material, signs, etc. On the day of the event, the GAOI will have signs and GAOI brochures for the event. We’d recommend that participating sponsors also have their marketing materials at each site.
For information on the event, or if you have questions please contact:
GAOI Executive Director John Freitag
jfreitag@aiec.coop
217/971-3533
IL Geothermal Tour Chairman Bob Dickey
Bob.dickey@eiec.coop
217/379-2131
Or the regional coordinator in your area – you’ll find them listed on the map at the Illinois Geothermal Tour web page.
