Want to reduce your carbon footprint, in a way that has a clear and immediate impact?
Looking to give a gift to a loved one that improves the environment while helping local families?
Wish you could go solar yourself, but you can't?
Have you already gone solar and want to do more?
Giving the gift of solar energy through GRID Alternatives is a great way to reduce your environmental footprint and help be part of the renewable energy revolution, while making a difference for low-income families and unemployed workers struggling in today's economy. GRID Alternatives brings together solar incentives and our unique nonprofit, volunteer-based installation program to triple the impact of every donation. Every solar panel you give at $125 generates the following benefits:
- $604 worth of clean, renewable power for low-income families over the panel's lifespan
- 4,853 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions prevented
- Hands-on job training opportunities for local workers in the growing field of solar installation
Solar Power and Low-income Families
California has some of the highest electricity prices in the United States, and low-income families pay a much higher percentage of their income on utilities. In some cases high energy costs can actually put low-income families at risk of homelessness, particularly in the current economic environment where so many families are fighting to keep their jobs and homes.
Low-income families also suffer increased exposure to smog and pollutants and related illnesses associated with fossil fuel production but typically have little or no access to renewable energy technologies. These families are also more vulnerable to heat related illness. Heat-trapping building materials (concrete, dark materials) are often used in low-income communities, and this, combined with a typical lack of tree cover, makes these communities particularly vulnerable to higher temperatures. Air conditioning is a critical tool in mitigating the effects of higher temperatures on vulnerable populations but low-income families often cannot afford it, which in a California heat wave can be deadly; increasing a homeowner's electrical capacity when the sun is strongest and demand for power is at its peak, while decreasing their costs, is a powerful economic and sometimes life saving benefit.
Finally, while many low-income communities in Southern California want to access the high-growth jobs of the future, such as solar electric installation, local job training programs that are able to provide classroom training often lack opportunities for their trainees to get the additional hands-on experience that solar employers prefer. GRID Alternatives partners with these job training programs by turning our projects into "classrooms in the field" where trainees can apply what they've learned and get the experience they need.
