HOUGHTON – It was a little bit blustery on Saturday, but John Santana was keeping plenty warm in the Dee Stadium parking lot, loading one old appliance after the other into the back of a semi trailer.

“It looks like they’re coming in like crazy,” said Wayne Formola, an Efficiency United contractor who was handling the paperwork and handing out rebate slips for up to $50 to help people replace the old freezers and air conditioners with more efficient, modern models.

Even stationed outside, the pair may have been the most popular attraction at the Houghton Energy Efficiency Team’s HEET Energy Show. By 2:30 p.m., they’d filled their trailer, according to a HEET Facebook posting, leaving organizers scrambling to find temporary storage for the appliances that kept on rolling in.

They’ll be back for those, confirmed HEET Energy Manager Melissa Davis, and Upper Peninsula Power Company customers who didn’t get in on the buyback can still schedule to have appliances picked up the next time around. To learn how to sign up, go to newpowertour.com.

There was plenty going on inside the Dee ballroom as well, where a variety of vendors and community groups were offering energy efficiency and green solutions, and high-schoolers were offering winterization demonstrations. At the HEET table, volunteers were signing folks up for free professional home efficiency analyses, and to join the volunteer army HEET is raising to winterize a more than 150 homes in 2016.

The best part of the show, said Davis, may have been all the conversations going on, with about 275 people showing up to share their ideas and excitement.

“I think when people had the opportunity to explore what’s possible, it may have been more than what our preconceived notions were,” Davis said. “I think everybody got a lot of energy from the HEET energy show.”

About 40 people signed up for free Efficiency United energy efficiency assessments, with signup still open through this week at energizehoughton.org/score.

Volunteer sign-up wasn’t quite as active, said Davis, but those already on board were fully committed to growing the ranks.

“I’m a single parent, work full time and I’m about to start classes,” said HEET Volunteer Coordinator Sherry Isadore. “I make the time for this because it’s good for our community.”

Davis said HEET will probably need a few hundred volunteers to meet their 2016 winterization goal, and about 50 have signed up so far. HEET is asking volunteers to commit about nine hours – three hours at three homes – she said.

“We just want people to jump in,” she said. “Especially handy people.”

Information on volunteering is also available at HEET’s energizehoughton.org web site.

The show was also a success for at least some of the vendors on hand. Davis said Superior Polymer, a professional winterization company, scheduled at least a half dozen jobs at the event.

Solar installers weren’t as successful, with proposed legislation in Lansing threatening to gut the net-metering system that makes home solar installations economically attractive. But while one local installer quoted in a recent Mining Gazette article said he might leave the state if House Bill 438 passes, another said Saturday the bill would be just a bump in the road.

“It will kill (solar) for about two years, and then the batteries will be cheap enough and simple enough,” said Solar Up owner Drew Cramer. In fact, he said, large utilities pushing the bill are probably shooting themselves in the foot, as home storage batteries will give consumers the option of disconnecting from the grid entirely.

Others with tables weren’t selling anything at all, unless you count ideas. David Hall was on hand explaining the Copper Country Recycling Initiative’s efforts to bring curbside recycling to more of the Keweenaw. Currently, he said, only about 10 percent of local trash is recycled, far less than Governor Rick Snyder’s 30 percent goal for Michigan.

Transporting recyclables to Wisconsin may be costly, he said, but no more so than Houghton County’s multimillion dollar investment in landfill space near Greenland.

“To move from here to 30 percent is not a big push,” he said.