SOS: Solar Acres Farm Traditional Cache

     

You are standing in front of Solar Acres Farm. Over four years the two solar arrays in the back field have expanded from 5.1 kW in 2012 to 16.0 kW in 2016. The 16.0 kW solar power has an annual production of 22 MWh, 10 MWh is used for the normal household consumption (Including heating of the chicken coop, cattle drinking water, etc), 2 MWh is used for 8000 miles of Electric Vehicle driving (The riding lawn mower is electric as well) and the extra power of 10 MWh is currently being allocated to domestic hot water and space heating. The plan is for the 10 MWh surplus energy to be stored as heat during the day and consumed at night. This will be done by using the first in the USA installed 40 kWh Phase Change Heat Battery.

Angus cattle are raised on grass pasture around the Solar Panels, no hormones, no antibiotics, no steroids or un-natural feeds. Free range chickens can be seen in the field with the cows.The newest project will be arriving in fall and consists of a solar power driven lawnmower!

These farm owners are into many sustainability efforts as they are also involved in organizing and supporting the local events for the National Drive Electric Week.

   

The 2017 Spokane Geocache Tour brings you Sustainability of Spokane. This Geocache Tour will send geocachers on a trip through the Spokane region, finding caches in areas where Spokane residents utilize natural resources and give back to the environment. You will visit locations featuring water conservation, farming, waste treatment, forestry, and of course dam, solar and wind energy.

• All caches begin with the series name SOS: followed by a location specific name so they are easy to search. We also made a SOS Bookmark of the caches.
• Be sure to visit SpokaneGeoTour.com for more infomation on current tours and a map view of all caches in this series.

The Sustainability of Spokane Geocache Tour is sponsored by Cache Advance, and by donation from local cachers. We hope you enjoy the tour!