The Department of Environmental Protection’s new “DEP at Home” exhibit was awarded “Best Educational Exhibit” during the 97th Pennsylvania Farm Show.

“I could not be more proud of the educational value and quality of DEP’s exhibit this year,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “DEP at Home demonstrates the value of installing energy-efficient products in a consumer-friendly, approachable manner.”

The DEP at Home exhibit competed against 57 other vendors for the top spot of Best Educational Exhibit. DEP also won this award in 2009. The department is also entering the exhibit into two national competitions, the Ex Awards and the Mod Awards.

The Ex Awards honors excellence in outstanding event and experiential programs. The Mod Awards acknowledges distinction in modular exhibit design.

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.

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 exhibit was created with the technical assistance of Purpose1 of Harrisburg, Dauphin County. Purpose1 specializes in creating professional display solutions for events, trade shows and conferences.

After debuting the exhibit at the Farm Show, 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.

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.  Click Here for a complete schedule of DEP webinars on a variety of topics.

1/21/2013