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 Valleys 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.
The nine families receiving solar systems during Saturdays Solarthon are among 30 across the state that will benefit from GRID Alternatives Solar Affordable Housing Program during Earth Week, from Chico all the way down to San Diego. And they arent the only ones who will benefit.
We believe that solutions to environmental problems can go hand-in-hand with solutions to economic problems, said GRID Alternatives Co-Founder and Program Director Tim Sears. Our model doesnt 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. GRID Alternatives barn raising 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%.
Parksdale residents Maria Elena Enriquez and her husband have two children they support with her farm labor and his construction work. But when theres 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. This is benefitting all our communities because the solar systems will help reduce pollution for all of us, Ms. Enriquez said.
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 lifetimes, while taking the equivalent of more than 600 cars off the road and training 300 people in solar installation.