Staff Reports & Steuben EDC
www.Kpcnews.com
Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 2:44pm
HAMILTON — Solar energy isn’t new but Thom Blake is making it feasible by marketing solar tubes and operating systems through a new warehouse and education center at 7967 S. Wayne St., Hamilton.
Solar Usage Now, Thom Blake’s company in the Town of Hamilton, was named after a now-defunct product line in a catalog from the late 1970s. “That was the hey day of solar,” said Blake, from his Hamilton office. “A lot of these things in this book were ahead of their time and they’re still available today.”
Blake has a vacation home on Hamilton Lake and lives in Defiance, Ohio, where he started a national wood-working operation based in Harlan, coached wrestling at Defiance College and sold antiques from a church in Defiance he eventually turned into a home. Blake also operates The Country Shops of Grabill, in Grabill, where he gave birth to the idea for the first Northeastern Indiana Sustainable Living Fair and Market.
The event starts tonight in the town of Grabill with a dinner and awards ceremony in the Fudergong building, 13750 First St., Grabill. An Amish meal will be served at 5 p.m. to start the event followed by opening statements on sustainability by David Goodman and awards presented by Paul Lagemann of Sen. Dan Coats’ office.
The Sustainability Fair is open Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Fudergong building with a keynote address on Friday at Grabill Missionary Church.
Solar Usage Now is a designer, assembler, and distributor of solar thermal hot water and space heating systems who recently located in Hamilton, Indiana with the assistance of the Steuben County Economic Development Corporation.
The Mission of the Northeastern Indiana Sustainable Living Fair is to educate all people about the importance of making proactive choices and changes in our daily lives that will enable us to sustain a long lasting clean environment for a continued higher quality of living in Northeast Indiana.
See more about the Northeast Indiana Sustainable Living Fair at their website: http://neisustainableliving.com/