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Hands-on Solar Energy Weekend at Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Come see solar home components, ride an electric bicycle and try hands-on demonstrations and games at “Solar Homes and More” to be held on Saturday, October 3, and Sunday, October 4 at Potomac Overlook Regional Park, in Arlington, VA.   Activities will take place Noon – 4 p.m. on both days.  (Potomac Overlook is listed on the 19th Annual Washington DC Solar Tour of Homes for Saturday, October 3.)

Potomac Overlook’s solar energy and energy efficiency installations and a new suite of exhibits called the “Energerium” will be featured and park staff will engage visitors of all ages with a variety of energy activities.  Also, Pedego [electric] Bikes and Continuum Energy Solutions, a local company specializing in energy audits, weatherization and renewable energy will exhibit their products and services.

Potomac Overlook has been a leader in energy education since the early 1990s and, in 2007, was awarded the Green Innovation Award as the Best Green Organization in Virginia from the Virginia Sustainable Building Network.

Potomac Overlook Regional Park is located at the end of Marcey Road, off of Military Road, in north Arlington, VA.  Call 703-528-5406 for directions and more information.

Everyone's invited to the Park this Saturday for the final concert of the season, featuring Poor Ellen Smith,

http://www.poorellensmith.com/Home.html

"Poor Ellen Smith is a new acoustic duo in the DC area. Armin Hadamer and Steve Galbraith take a faithful yet uniquely fresh approach to traditional American music. Their singing and high-powered guitar picking conjures up musical worlds reaching from Doc Watson all the way to Jerry Garcia. Add top-quality songwriting, pioneering arrangements, and the occasional friends sitting in with them—and you’ve got the PES experience."

As always, concerts begin at 7pm. Bring your picnic dinners, and any donations are most welcome, but not required!

There's also a special event on Sunday, for the "Meet me on a Sunday . . . at Potomac Overlook" 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.

The Park is planning a festival, sponsored by a teacher in Arlington, to benefit Amman Imman, an organization dedicated to bringing sustainable sources of water to the people of the Azawak in Niger. Activities will include: face painting, water relays, a nature hike, friendship bracelet making, music and more. Donations are welcome, but all activities are free, as always.

Remember: "Meet me on a Sunday . . ." happens EVERY Sunday 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.!  And there's always lots of neat activities for the children.

Introduction to Home Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

Join Kent Baake, president of Continuum Energy Solutions on Wednesday, August 19, at 7 p.m. to learn how to add renewable energy and energy efficiency features to your home. This program will provide insights into products and incentives for solar and wind energy; for instance, federal incentives now exist for 30% of solar energy systems, and prices have dropped 30% in the last year! Also learn how current and new technologies can save you money, reduce your risk during power outages and increase the value of your home!

The cost of this program is $5. Please RSVP to Continuum Energy Solutions at info@ces-va.com<mailto:info@ces-va.com> or by calling 703-354-0262.

This public lecture will be held at Potomac Overlook Regional Park. The park is located at the end of Marcey Road, off of Military Road, in north Arlington, VA. Call 703-528-5406 for directions and more information.

Hi folks!

Breaking with our tradition of holding concerts every other Saturday, we will be holding our Summer Solstice concert THIS Saturday at 7PM at the stage.

Performers will be Tom Teasley and Stream and the Blue Dragons, excellent percussionists and multi-instrumentalists.

As usual, bring famil and picnic! Avoid parking in the Donaldson Run pool lot as they close the gates on occasion before the end of the show.

Hope to see you there!

Rich Bailey

Naturalist

Although no one can know what's going to happen in the future, particularly as it applies to the government, as of today, April 5, 2009, the treasury has bought about $250 billion in mortgage backed securities under their program to help depress mortgage rates and free up new money.  That is what is causing these low mortgage rates.

They just started this about three weeks ago, with a total of $750 billion allocated for this program, meaning that 1/3rd is already used up just a few weeks into the program. Once that money is gone, we would expect the lenders to start raising mortage rates again, after all, they're in the business of making money.

Calculating things out, people have about another 6 weeks at this pace before the short is over, and if rates start rising after that, people who have been playing the "limbo of mortgage rates," waiting to see how low they will go, will have missed the bottom.

If you want to know more about the market in Northern Virginia, give us a call.

Friends of Potomac Overlook -

* 24th Annual Potomac Overlook Open House - Sunday, May 3, 1 - 4 PM.

Don't miss this wonderful springtime tradition! Fun activities and exhibits for all ages - live music, games, food, a juggler, community exhibits, art, maypole dance, ribbon cutting for Potomac Overlook's energy education

renovation, guided energy tours, wood mill demonstration and more! Please

join us, and tell your friends and family! (Pass on this e-mail).

* Yard sale items to benefit park - stop by the park on a Saturday (10-5)

or Sunday (1-5) between now and open house and pick up a book, small furniture piece or other odds and ends for a very small price (or a larger donation for our nature center renovation if you like). We are entering the home stretch of our renovation process and are finding that we have more furnature and books than we could possibly need! Come pick up a few items and help us fund our endeavors at the same time...

Rich Bailey

Naturalist

Call 703-528-5406 if you have any questions!