In Lakeport, California the sun is out in full-force and daily highs easily hit 100 degrees. This didn’t stop our North Coast Solar Installation Supervisor, Cora Saxton and her crew of four volunteers this past week. The team hit the roof early, working together to bring solar to George Fred, his wife Tori, and their four grandchildren over two days of solar installation and job training on their home.<\/p>\n
The 4.8 Kw solar system installed for the Fred family will generate over 250,000 Kw of energy in its estimated 30 year lifespan, the economic impact of which translates to over $40,500 in energy savings. Environmentally, this installation will mean 126 tons of carbon emissions prevented (the offset equivalent of planting nearly 3,000 trees, or taking 22 cars off the road for one year!)<\/p>\n
One member of the installation crew, Johnny Mendez, has lived in Mendocino all his life and has now logged nearly 70 hours on the roof with GRID. \u201cI got hooked up with a local installation contractor and I\u2019m going out with them this week,\u201d shares Johnny. \u201cTelling them I had experience with GRID helped me get a job with them!\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny has a certificate in Sustainable Technology from Mendocino College, spent a summer interning with the Solar Living Institute, and will be continuing his studies to receive his bachelors in Environmental Engineering. He says the best thing about this installation was the excitement shown by the kids. \u201cI wish I had been engaged in this (solar movement) that young!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The Fred family and their grandchildren are one of 35 tribal families that the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians Housing department has been able to help go solar in partnership with GRID.<\/p>\n
Dannette Rangel, Administrative Assistant to the housing department, has said that solar has helped all the tenants a great deal to be self-sufficient and actually more aware of energy use. Not only this, but the larger community has benefited from having GRID onsite. \u201cIt\u2019s been great, there is a lot of teamwork going on,\u201d Danette shares. \u201cWe have volunteers from the tribe out there helping, and more and more have shown up. It\u2019s a good group.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Lakeport, California the sun is out in full-force and daily highs easily hit 100 degrees. This didn’t stop our North Coast Solar Installation Supervisor, Cora Saxton and her crew of four volunteers this past week. The team hit the roof early, working together to bring solar to George Fred, his wife Tori, and their four grandchildren over two days of solar installation and job training on their home.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"audience":[],"content-type":[12],"focus-area":[74,35],"region":[],"series":[],"content-author":[],"class_list":["post-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-community","content-type-news","focus-area-tribal-energy","focus-area-tribal-program"],"acf":{"hero_media_type":"image","hero_media_image":null,"hero_media_url":"","hero_media_poster":null,"hero_video_play":"inline","related_stories":null,"pattern_override":null,"story_callouts":null,"media":null,"featured_blog_post":null,"featured_event":null,"pdf_download":null,"blockquote":null,"author":null,"notice":null,"social_embed":null,"contact_card":null,"meta_details":null,"faq":null,"table":null},"yoast_head":"\n