The community is invited to see the new solar educational materials and solar information kiosk that will be unveiled at the Miller-Golf Links Library Branch at 5 p.m. today, Monday, April 23. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there will be a Solar Power 101 presentation. Both events are free and open to the public. RSVP for Solar Power 101 to jmcginnis@pagnet.org or 520-792-1093.

Pima County Public Library and Bruce Plenk, Solar Energy Coordinator for the City of Tucson, worked together to identify and purchase solar-related materials including books, magazine subscriptions, and DVDs. The solar kiosk provides live reporting regarding how much solar energy is being produced in our community. Library patrons now will be able to check out a device called the Kill-A-Watt, which plugs into appliances to indicate their electricity usage and efficiency.

In recognition of the funding support to purchase the solar educational materials obtained by the Office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, before she stepped down in January, the collection will be named the Gabrielle Giffords Collection. All of these resources will be initially available at the Miller-Golf Links Library Branch, but will be moving to other libraries in the system.

• WHAT:  Ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce new solar resources and unveil information kiosk
• WHEN:  5-6 p.m. Ribbon-cutting; 6-7:30 p.m. Solar Power 101, Monday, April 23
• WHERE:  Miller-Golf Links Library Branch, 9640 E. Golf Links Road, 85730

 For more information, please visit http://www.library.pima.gov/about/news/?id=3922.

 Pima County, Ariz. (August 30, 2011) – More electric vehicle chargers are being installed around Pima County by ECOtality North America, with help from the Pima Association of Governments and funding from the federal government.

The Tucson Clean Cities program, which is managed by the Pima Association of Governments, worked with the local EV (Electric Vehicle) Project steering committee to identify potential sites. By the end of this year, an estimated 125 charging stations will be installed in Pima County.

Along with the chargers that are being installed at eight Pima County library sites, two chargers are being installed at Tucson Botanical Garden, 2150 N. Alvernon Way; two at Brooklyn Pizza Company at 534 N. Alvernon Way, and one at The Nature Conservancy, 1510 E. Ft. Lowell Road.

Two chargers are being installed at a solar engineering firm, Sunpower of Arizona, at 1135 N. Jefferson Ave.

The University of Arizona has three chargers: at 1201 E. 6^th St, at 1117 E. 6^th St., and at 1310 E. 1^st St.

To see when the chargers go live, go to this website and click on Tucson:

http://blinknetwork.com/locator.html

The charging stations are part of a nationwide EV Project.

The installation and operating costs are paid for by ECOtality, North America, the Phoenix-based technology company, with Department of Energy federal stimulus money that was matched by private investment, according to Marc Sobelman, ECOtality area manager for Arizona. He said ECOtality contributed 50 percent of  the cost of the project.

Sobelman said there will be a fee for charging a vehicle – likely around $1.25 an hour.

ECOtality’s “Blink Pedestal” Level 2 supplemental charging stations take about two to three hours to fully charge a vehicle.

They’re not meant as charging destinations, but an as amenity provided by the “host” for recharging vehicles on the go, which routinely are fully charged at the vehicle owner’s home.

For more on sustainability in Pima County, go to www.GreenPuebloMap.org to see locations of Pima County’s sustainability assets.