"I thought it was really neat," St. John said of the Phoenix tour. "I realized Alaska had never had it."

The American Solar Energy Society and the Alaska Center for Appropriate Technology, sponsor the Alaska Solar Tour. ACAT, started in 1993, promotes sustainable economic development through research and education.

Although St. John can fulfill 100 percent of his energy needs using solar panels at his Kalgin Island home, like other Alaskans using solar power, that ability declines in the dark winter months. Many solar power users also have wind turbines.

"In Alaska we cannot just go with solar," St. John said. "(The solar tour) encompasses all renewable energy."

For the Alaska Solar Tour, organizers have included renewable energy projects like wind turbines. Equally important is being energy efficient. The tour also features green homes that are super energy efficient, with heavily insulated walls and roofs.

"In Alaska, that's almost as important as getting renewable energy," St. John said. "You have to be energy efficient before you can be profitable with renewable energy."

One house on the tour in Palmer has thick foam walls that "is so efficient, you can almost heat it with a match," St. John said.

Another technology to be showcased is thermal storage. With thermal storage, water is heated by evacuated solar tubes and then stored in a large tank in the home's foundation. As winter progresses, the home is heated from the thermal mass -- the water tank -- in the home.

Visitors on the tour not only can see various projects, but they can meet and talk with homeowners, businesses and some of the people who install the devices.

"If you hit all the places, you'd be able to talk to a homeowner who did retrofits, a homeowner who did new construction and integrated it into the home, as well as the installers themselves," said Kyra Wagner of Sustainable Homer.

Wagner and her husband Neil will show their 19 solar-tracking 190-watt photovoltaic panels. Tehben Dean also shows his home-built electric truck at their house on Jake's Little Fireweed Lane in Homer. Lanny Simpson of Alaska High Mountain Energy also shows Zap electric vehicles, including a three-wheel truck and a scooter.

Some sites on the tour feature live entertainment. At the Fox Farm on Kalifornsky Beach Road, singer-songwriter Amy Lou Hettinger performs at 11 a.m. Kasilof artist Timothy Oliver, who painted the art for the Alaska Solar Tour poster, also is available to sign posters. Hettinger also plays from 1-2 p.m. at Ionia, a community practicing sustainability in Kasilof. A homegrown vegetarian buffet is served at Ionia.

ACAT also sponsors the annual Bioneers in Alaska conference, to be held Oct. 16-17 in Anchorage. The conference features live speakers as well as some appearing through satellite.

"Bioneers is like the solar tour multiplied by five," St. John said. "It's more broad topics, not just renewable energy."

Tour visitors are encouraged to car pool. Some sites may have restricted hours or be outside tours only. For more information on the tour, including directions on Google maps, visit the solar tour Web site at www.alaskasolartour.org.