State Fair

'Eco-Experience' At Fair Shows Green Technology

(WCCO) For those dreaming green, the State Fair's Eco-Experience is a fertile field of ideas.

Once such idea is a Corvette converted to an electric car. The Minnesota Electric Vehicle Association said the power is in your own hands.

"You can just build an electric car by using something that already exists, and not wait that someone else will do it for you," said Jukka Kukkonen with the Minnesota Electric Auto Association.

The group gets together to share ideas for converting vehicles and also to work on the cars.

The super-efficient mini cars attract big crowds, including the zero emissions "Zenn." The Zenn is for neighborhood trips, since it goes up to about 35 miles an hour.

"I think it's awesome. It has a lot of room and storage,." said visitor Karen Sukut.

Saving money and the the environment at the same time is the goal behind the Eco-House.

"It's showing in a holistic way and how to be more environmentally friendly and have a beautiful, functional, high performance house," said Marc Sloot of Sala Architects, the firm that designed this year's Eco-House.

Passive solar energy use takes advantage of south-facing windows along with concrete thermal slabs inside to hold in the heat. Smart framing and insulating can reduce materials and energy costs. There are examples of soy-based foam insulation as well as insulation made out of recycled materials like cotton and cellulose.

Recycling can be both beautiful and functional. Sloot showed off countertops made of recycled glass. The different colored glass pieces resemble a mosaic set in concrete.

"This is curbside recycled glass, so this is mostly beer bottles you're seeing here," said Sloot.

Minnesota companies are manufacturing more of the green products.

"I think all manufacturers are. We're responding to what our customers are asking to us to do," said Bob Saumur of Marvin Windows.

Potential customers like what they see.

"Everything I see here is amazing because there are things I didn't now it were available," said Kyle Hagel.

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