We are asking for the support and participation of all GAOI members in advancing a new program — the Illinois Geothermal Tour! Saturday, September 21, 2013, is Geothermal Heat Pump Day in Illinois as declared by the Governor. We’re organizing a series of geothermal open houses around the state — all together this will make up the Illinois Geothermal Tour.
The GAOI will publicize the event and provide news releases,advertising scripts and signs for use by member-organizations sponsoring open houses.
Our plan is to develop this into an annual event that raises awareness of geothermal – and introduces geo to more Illinoisans interested in the technology. We want to have an open house — eventually anyway — in every corner of the state. We’re starting from scratch this year and hope that you’ll join with us in building the event into a successful long term tour that will move GEOTHERMAL ahead!
Both residential and commercial facilities can be part of the tour. Both have equal importance and might generate interest from different groups of people. All GAOI members can sponsor the tour and host one or more sites. Contractors, utilities, distributors and manufacturers can host sites. All GAOI members can participate.
For more information visit gaoi.org and click on the Illinois Geothermal Tour logo on the home page.
THANK YOU to all who helped GAOI with the State Fair effort!
Thanks to everyone who helped with the GAOI effort at the Illinois State Fair
Many thanks to all members who helped with this year’s GAOI effort at the Illinois State Fair, where a recent-year record 960,000 folks attended the 12-day event. For the second straight year, GAOI was part of the Illinois Energy Zone on the lawn of the Emmerson Building, located right in the heart of the fairgrounds at Central and Main Streets.
Our exhibit was staffed every day of the fair by GAOI volunteers. Governor Pat Quinn toured the exhibit on the fair’s first morning and expressed his support for geothermal. He explained to the Lincoln impersonator, who was part of the governor’s entourage on the fairgrounds, that geothermal was installed in the president’s tomb and made for a very comfortable environment.
The GAOI exhibit had an operating unit chugging out cool air. A replica unit was placed right alongside the busy Main Street, where hundreds of thousands of attendees passed. More than 500 GAOI brochures were passed out to interested consumers during the fair.
To everyone who helped work the GAOI exhibit during the fair — a HEARTY THANK YOU!
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn stopped by the GAOI exhibit at the fair during the first morning. From left are Dana Smith of Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative, Auburn; President Lincoln; Illinois Ag Director Bob Flider; Miss Illinois State Fair and Governor Quinn, GAOI Director John Freitag, and GAOI board member Chad Mayes.
Thanks to Lisa Rigoni of the Assn. of IL Electric Co-ops for the picture.
GAOI at the Farm Progress Show
The geothermal unit shell (generously contributed by Enertech Global) got a great workout at the Illinois State Fair and is located in the Touchstone Energy exhibit at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur this week. The freestanding display has a brochure holder and communicates the energy-efficient attributes of geothermal heating and cooling.
Many thanks to the Touchstone Energy folks who participate and sponsor the FPS for including geothermal in their exhibit. This unit, four banner-ups that are perfect for trade shows and numerous banners are available to GAOI members anytime as a member benefit.
Thanks to the Illinois Touchstone Energy sponsors at the Farm Progress Show for including the geo unit display as part of their exhibit this year. And thanks to Kevin Bernson of Shelby Electric Cooperative for this picture.
