The Department of Environmental Protection will host a “Meet the Experts” afternoon from 2 to 6 p.m. on January 6, at the Main Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg.

Experts will be there to answer questions about the products and practices featured in the home structure of the DEP at Home exhibit.

The Department of Environmental Protection will introduce a new “DEP at Home” exhibit during the 97th Pennsylvania Farm Show in the Main Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg from January 5 to 12.

DEP at Home is an interactive, educational exhibit fashioned into a home structure that features practices and products promoting energy efficiency and sustainable building materials as well as environmentally friendly and Pennsylvania-produced products for the home.

“Energy efficiency starts in the home,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “This exhibit will be a valuable tool to teach residents about simple, common-sense ways they can increase their home’s efficiency, reduce the amount of energy they consume and save money. We are delighted to roll it out at the Farm Show.”

The three-room exhibit has a bathroom/laundry area, kitchen and living room that showcase décor, appliances and building materials that help improve energy efficiency, water conservation, radon awareness, air quality and other staples of environmental awareness. There is also an outdoor space that includes a dog house with green roofing and a bicycle.

The theme of this year’s farm show is “Made in PA. It makes a difference.” The DEP at Home exhibit will feature many Pennsylvania products, including fiber cement siding headquartered in Valley Forge, Chester County; cork flooring based in the Lancaster, Lancaster County; an Energy Star window from Vandergrift, Westmoreland County; and insulation made in the Erie, Erie County, and Allentown, Lehigh County.

On Sunday, January 6, DEP will host a “Meet the Experts” event from 2 to 6 p.m. with representatives from the companies that donated products to the exhibit available to answer Farm Show visitors’ questions and offer additional energy-efficiency tips.

DEP will showcase the new exhibit, which was created through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program, at home shows, schools and other educational events to continue to promote the benefits of energy efficiency and sustainable building practices.

DEP-At-Home Webinars

The exhibit goes hand-in-hand with a series of quarterly webinars, also called DEP at Home, produced by DEP to educate families about energy-efficient and environmentally friendly practices they can implement in their homes.

The next webinar, Radon Awareness, will be on January 16, from 7 to 8 p.m.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show runs January 5 to 11 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Jan. 12 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and parking is $10. The Pennsylvania FarmShow Complex and Expo Center is easily accessed from nearby Interstate 81.

1/7/2013