Letter from Erica Mackie, Executive Director and Co-Founder
Greetings to those of you who are just finding out about GRID Alternatives, and a warm end-of-summer hello to all of you who have been GRID Alternatives enthusiasts for quite a while. The last six months have seen a dramatic jump in the number of volunteers on our mailing list and clients on our waiting list, and the number of local corporations who have expressed an interest in being part of our mission is overwhelming.  This is almost entirely because of word-of-month referrals. Volunteers tell their friends to volunteer, low-income families tell their friends how much they are saving on their electricity bills, and an employee at one of our corporate sponsors tells their friends at the company down the street what a great time she had out on site. When I run into a GRID volunteer at the grocery store, or go to an official meeting at the Public Utilities Commission only to find out that the person I’m meeting with is a GRID volunteer, I realize all the ways in which this local effort for community power represents a truly shared and interconnected community. Our volunteers become our staff, our clients become our board members, our donors decide to volunteer, our volunteers decide to donate, our clients are our neighbors, our neighbors are our volunteers, and all of them advocate on our behalf with their friends, families, companies and community groups. 

We’ve gone from two pilot projects in 2004 to completing our 100th installation last Friday, and we are about to open our first office outside the Bay Area in LA, which will ultimately transition to an independent affiliate. This growth has happened organically because all of you who support GRID Alternatives talk to your friends.  This past year we’ve been working hard to design and develop an affiliate structure that will help keep that local feel even as we grow.  So keep talking with your friends and together we’ll keep bringing together more folks who want renewable power to be a technology that benefits the folks living and working in our community, a technology that is installed by our community, and a technology that brings our community together. Thanks for being part of our growth, and I’ll see you in the grocery store! --Erica

Volunteer Projects Update
Since our last update in mid-June, we've installed 18 more solar electric systems for low-income homeowners, including systems in Yolo County, Oakland, East Palo Alto, Livermore, Richmond, Santa Cruz, and Lake County. Thanks as always to all of our amazing volunteers and team leaders who made these projects happen. October will be our busiest month ever with two huge installation projects - Solarthon 2007 in Oakland and the Jimmy Carter Work Project in Los Angeles - totalling 38 systems! Volunteer slots at these events are both full, but we also have upcoming projects in the next few months in San Francisco, Lake County, Solano County, Sacramento, Bakersfield, San Mateo County, Concord, and more. Watch our volunteer mailing list for the dates as they're finalized, and email us at info@gridalternatives.org if you're not on the list and would like to be added.

City of Richmond partners with GRID Alternatives for green energy and green jobs
We feel strongly that bringing together environmental and economic sustainability in low-income communities not only means green energy for low-income folks, but also green jobs and green careers. Last month we partnered with the City of Richmond Community and Economic Development Agency, as well as community group Solar Richmond, on a pilot project that brings together low-income solar and green jobs. Thanks to support from Richmond's Housing and Community Development department, GRID Alternatives installed a solar electric system for a low-income Richmond homeowner, and all the labor was provided by job trainees from the Richmond Department of Employment and Training Department Richmond BUILD program. These trainees were also provided with additional classroom training on solar technology by staff from GRID Alternatives and the Solar Living Institute, and were given opportunities to network and interview with local solar employers. You can check out some of the news coverage of this project in our GRID in the News page on our website.

Corporate Sponsor Profile - SunPower
As the solar industry grows and matures, we're starting to see more and more direct support from solar companies looking to give back to their local communities. For example, last year both San Jose-based SunPower, a high-efficiency solar module manufacturer, and Berkeley-based PowerLight, a large-scale solar power systems provider, starting asking us how they could support our programs in local low-income communities. Then SunPower acquired PowerLight (now SunPower, Systems) to form one of the biggest forces in the solar industry. We've now created a partnership where they provide preferred pricing on their panels to our low-income and nonprofit clients, SunPower employee volunteers to help install these systems on company time, and direct financial support to help bring GRID Alternatives' programs to more communities in need throughout the Bay Area. This partnership was celebrated on Friday, September 14th, when over 60 SunPower employees came out to install six solar electric systems at a Habitat for Humanity East Bay development in Oakland. Thank you SunPower!

Thank You!
In addition to our fantastic volunteers, we have many people and organizations to thank for their support of our work over the past three months. The biggest thank you goes out to PG&E, for continuing their support of our Solar Affordable Housing Program in 2007, and for their groundbreaking Solar Habitat initiative to provide solar power to all new homes being built by Habitat for Humanity affiliates through through PG&E's service area. We'd also like to thank our corporate sponsors for next month's Solarthon event, including PG&E, SolarCity, ENVIRON, Google, WaMu and RMC Water and Environment, as well as all the individual fundraisers who have signed up to raise money at the Solarthon. Thanks also go out to the Corporation for National and Community Service for their expanded support for our AmeriCorps*VISTA program, to the Franklin Weinberg Fund for their support of our expansion into Los Angeles, and to our most recent in-kind supporter, Solmetric Corporation, which has donated its Solmetric SunEye electronic solar access and shade analysis tool for our construction staff. We'd also like to thank our ongoing in-kind sponsors who continue to make our work possible, with a particular shout out to Joe Karp at Winston & Strawn LLP - recently recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers in California by the Daily Journal - for his pro bono legal assistance helping us navigate the California Public Utilities Commission.

Finally, we have two big thank yous to two individuals who have been a huge part of making this year's growth possible. Bob Batista, our just-departed AmeriCorps*VISTA Program Assistant, did an amazing job managing volunteers, streamlining our database, assisting our construction staff with design and rebate projects, and laying the groundwork for our affiliate program. Brian Bellamy, our fantastic summer intern, has done an amazing amount of work - from the office to the permit counter to the rooftops - to keep our installations humming during a particularly hectic time of year. Thank you both for your efforts to bring renewable energy to the folks who need it most.

GRID Alternatives eNewsletter - Fall 2007
995 Market Street, Suite 801, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 839-8437 | info@gridalternatives.org | www.gridalternatives.org
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