By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
For the Stoneback-Pelovitz family, Sustainable Lawrence’s 5th annual Home and Energy Expo seemed like a good way to spend time with the family and maybe learn a little bit more about sustainability on a Saturday afternoon.
”We support all of these causes. There is not a lot that we didn’t know about it, but I was not aware of Habitat for Humanity in Trenton,” said Sharon Stoneback. She lives in Lawrence with her husband, David Pelovitz, and their two daughters.
”It’s a chance to expose the children to sustainable development, although they probably know more about this than I do at this point,” Ms. Stoneback said with a laugh as the family prepared to leave the event at Lawrence High School.
The Stoneback-Pelovitz family were among the 300-plus visitors to the fair, which highlighted ways to save energy and be “green” from vendors that offered everything from energy audits of the home to solar energy companies and chemical-free cleaning and beauty supplies.
Outside in the school’s parking lot, several car dealerships showcased their technologically advanced cars, including hybrid cars from Ford, Toyota and Honda, electric cars from Nissan and General Motors, and diesels from Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz.
Inside was a special treat known as an e-bike as in, electric bicycle. E-bikes are popular in Europe and China, and they are slowly beginning to catch on in the United States, according to e-bike vendor Patrick Vaccarino.
The E-BikeKit, which costs $584, allows bicycle owners to convert a standard bicycle into a battery powered electric one in about an hour, Mr. Vaccarino said. With the flick of a switch on the bicycle, It allows a rider to turn on the battery to provide electric power to go uphill, for example.
”E-bikes have been around for 25 years, (but) an e-bike is not for everyone,” Mr. Vaccarino said. “They are designed to help people get around who have trouble pedaling or who are afraid they will go too far from home and they won’t be able to make it back.”
An electric bicycle equipped with a 36-volt battery can travel as fast as 20 miles per hour. It has a range of about 12 to 34 miles before needing a charge, according to E-Bike’s website, www.E-BikeKit.com. It takes about four-and-a-half hours to charge the battery with a 2-amp charger. A battery can be recharged about 250 times.
Although unrelated to e-bikes, the Boys & Girls Club of Trenton and Mercer County Bike Exchange had an informational booth. The organization accepts donated bicycles and refurbishes them. The bicycles are sold to support the clubs’ after-school programs in Trenton and Newark.
Several vendors offered information on solar panels, as well as a company that offers energy efficient products including light bulbs. Visitors could learn about energy efficient appliances, too, from another vendor.
Community groups ranging from Habitat for Humanity to the Lawrence Nature Center and the Lawrence Hopewell Trail set up shop at the expo.
The Lawrenceville Elementary School had a booth that showed visitors what its students had accomplished, including a school garden.
And Lawrence High School’s Students Against Violating the Earth also set up a booth at the Exposition.

