On Saturday, April 21, rooftops in the Parksdale community of Madera, California, will be swarming with people: community members, job trainees, local business employees and homeowners all working together to install clean solar power for families that live there. The mass installation, GRID Alternatives Central Valley\u0092s annual Solarthon fundraiser, will not only save $263,000 dollars for struggling homeowners in this working-class neighborhood over the lifetime of the systems, but will also divert the greenhouse gas equivalent of planting 18,000 trees.<\/p>\n
The nine families receiving solar systems during Saturday\u0092s Solarthon are among 30 across the state that will benefit from GRID Alternatives\u0092 Solar Affordable Housing Program during Earth Week, from Chico all the way down to San Diego. And they aren\u0092t the only ones who will benefit.<\/p>\n
\u0093We believe that solutions to environmental problems can go hand-in-hand with solutions to economic problems,\u0094 said GRID Alternatives Co-Founder and Program Director Tim Sears. \u0093Our model doesn\u0092t just reduce pollution, it also reduces energy bills for families that need the savings most, and helps workers find jobs in the energy industry of the future.\u0094 GRID Alternatives\u0092 \u0093barn raising\u0094 solar installation model also provides job trainees and other volunteers with hands-on experience installing systems, helping prepare them for work in one of the fastest growing industries in the state. According to a report by the Solar Foundation, nearly half of all solar installation firms expect to be hiring in the next year, at a growth rate of around 25%.<\/p>\n
Parksdale residents Maria Elena Enriquez and her husband have two children they support with her farm labor and his construction work. But when there\u0092s no work in the fields, times get tough. They are excited not just for the savings that their solar system will bring but for the environment as well. \u0093This is benefitting all our communities because the solar systems will help reduce pollution for all of us,\u0094 Ms. Enriquez said.<\/p>\n
Other Earth Week installation sites include San Jose, Hamilton City, San Diego and nearby El Cajon, Arroyo Grande and Riverside. Taken together these projects will save California families more than a million dollars over their systems\u0092 lifetimes, while taking the equivalent of more than 600 cars off the road and training 300 people in solar installation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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