About US

“Solar Punk” is the festival theme, which envisions a future where community and technology are integrated to create a self-sustaining system. In this event, attendees will learn about alternative self-sustaining ways to work and power their daily lives. It is an iconic one-day event that celebrates the best of Burien and empowers the community by bringing eco-friendly businesses together to showcase what they do and connect them to the community as potential employers. Business, Arts, and Culture are the three most powerful drivers of community participation and engagement in Burien and the pillars upon which the festival is based. The proceeds from The Burien Solar Punk Festival will be utilized to support: Key Tech Labs Green Jobs Expo, a Mini Job’s Fair, a Small Business Expo, funds for the new micro solar system, and stipends for the youth Green Pre-Apprenticeship Program 

At this year’s Burien Solar Punk Festival you will see green technologies, Like an air-to-water generator, that creates clean drinking water out of the air. You will also see a microgrid solar system that generates energy from sunlight. We even have a farmbot which is an open-source CNC machine that will weed, water, and seed a garden bed all by itself. The future is now and the future is green. 

Key Tech Labs Mission statement is to bring emerging technology to underprivileged areas to help create self-sustainable communities. With other companies such as Sphere Solar a black-owned Solar installation company, which installed a solar micro-grid on the land, and Shark Garden the land management organization, we have created an ecosystem of technology, community, and environment. We are a collaboration of businesses seeking to showcase the future of our economy and the instructor of our lives. Along with our sponsor and Allies, we have created this unique ecosystem to showcase what the future of our world could look like not 30 years in the future but today. What our lives and the world could look like if we choose to invest in and support renewable energy and communities in a way that creates the tomorrow we are all hoping for. 

This is all taking place on a single day on Saturday, August 10th, 2024. 

This will take place in Burien WA, at Shark Garden Right next to New Start High School. The address is 614 SW 120th St, Seattle, WA 98146 

Our world is in need of an alternative. Currently our world consumes a great deal of electricity. The average American household consumes 30 KW a day. ( your cell phone uses about 0.018 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, so it is not your phone causing the high electricity bills.) But If there is one simple fact that may just change your thoughts on renewable power, it's this one. In a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than the entire world consumes in a year. We have all the energy we need to supply our daily electricity needs, the main question is why are we not utilizing this option. Why is solar and renewable energy an "alternative" source of power instead of the main source of our energy production needs. That's the point of this event and the theme of Solar Punk, to showcase the need for our rethinking and reinvestment in renewables to make them the mainstream solutions. Our world, economy and environment needs us all to make this shift in our thinking and overall investments. 

The event ,like any event, takes a lot of work. Many people over multiple years have been working to bring this event to the community. We have the land and event space. Shark Garden has cultivated the event space for over 5 years. Weed Warrior has been constantly working on weeding and cleaning up the environment for visitors and attendees. Sphere Solar ,is the Black owned and operated solar energy company that installed the solar microgrid powering the land. Henry's Landing ,is the construction company who helped to install the Green House on the land for the Farmbot. The Port of Seattle , our main sponsors for the land, this event and the larger program this event represents. King County for their sponsorship of this event has help to pay for the event catering.