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This small beautiful town is situated about two hours (1 hour 45 minutes on a good day) north of San Francisco along the 101 Freeway.

HOPLAND, CA

Dave
2004-02-21 14:06:59

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some of the lodgings in the Hopland area. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Real Goods offers a real solar experience. They are located at 13771 South Highway 101 on the eastern side of the road. You will see the signs as you drive up the 101. Just before you turn into their Solar Living Center you will see the controversial trees growing through old cars. These are located in front of their Living Center and are quite an attraction.

The Solar Living Center is located on 12 acres of land. As you wind through their facilities on their gravel road you will pass nicely landscaped gardens with a small pond. The short gravel road will end in a gravel parking lot. You will see several Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations in this parking lot. You will also see solar cells, in fact quite a few of them. This is where the Living Center gets its electricity.

You can take a self guided tour of the facilities at your own leisure if you like. You may also want to consider taking a FREE guided tour. The guides have always been very prepared and knowledgeable. There are many innovations that Real Goods has built into their buildings and facilities in order to conserve energy. For example, they use recycled toilet paper and low flow toilets in their bathrooms. The walls of the building are made out of straw and mud. Burning wood, in part, keeps the buildings warm during the summer. They have a certain room that contains many batteries. They store some of their energy in this room. Real Goods even has enough energy on some days to sell back to the power companies.

Real Goods sells a variety of solar and other energy efficient products. One of my favorites is the dynamo charging solar radio. This radio can run very well on solar energy, or you can use batteries, or you can wind it to charge it. On a clear sunny day I can run this radio all day just off of the small cells located ...