Press Room

For media inquiries, please email media@gridalternatives.org. Thank you!

• GRID Alternatives - Organizational Report
• GRID Alternatives - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Staff Bios
• Accomplishments to Date
• Photo Gallery
• Calendar of Selected Upcoming Events

GRID Alternatives in the News:

GRID Alternatives San Diego staff profiled in Solar Today
Solar Today magazine profiled Outreach Coordinator Miguel Reza and Project Manager Steve Fernandez from GRID Alternatives' San Diego regional office.http://www.solartoday-digital.org/

It Takes A Village
Molly Peterson of KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, reports on GRID Alternatives' partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and LA CAUSA Youthbuild for the East LA Green Grant Program.  http://www.scpr.org/

Greater Los Angeles Solarthon Featured by the Ventura County Star                                    
Mike Harris, a reporter with the Ventura County Star, visited the Greater Los Angeles Solarthon in Piru, CA, and spoke with homeowners and volunteers at the event, as well Executive and Program Directors Erica Mackie and Tim Sears and Regional Director Susie Chang. http://www.vcstar.com/

GRID Alternatives partners with the Tulare Redevelopment Agency
The Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register profiled a recent GRID Alternatives solar installation in Tulare, in partnership with the Tulare Redevelopment Agency. http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/

GRID Alternatives' client op-ed featured in the San Francisco Chronicle
Mardina Graham, a GRID Alternatives client and Board member from San Francisco's Bayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood, recently had an op-ed piece published about her experiences with GRID Alternatives, and the need for solar programs to reach low-income communities. sfgate.com

KMPH 26 News highlights SASH Program and Porterville Installation with Proteus
Check out this great news story from the Central Valley, highlighting the SASH incentive program and our job training partnership with Proteus, Inc. To view the video, visit the article at the KMPH website and click on the Featured Video link in the upper left corner. kmph.com

Bay Area Outreach Coordinator, Leah Pimentel, wins local Jefferson Award
Leah Pimentel, an Outreach Coordinator in the Bay Area, won this week's Bay Area Jefferson Award for helping senior citizens go green. You can view the video at the CBS 5 website. cbs5.com

GRID Alternatives Teams with SunValley Solar and Canadian Solar to Bring Renewable Energy to Low-Income Homeowners Across California
Partnership empowers communities in need with renewable energy equipment and services to lower energy costs and reduce green house gas emissions.www.canadian-solar.com/

Southeast San Diego Installation covered on KPBS
KPBS covered a GRID Alternatives installation that took place in Southeast San Diego in partnership with the Coalition of Neighborhood Councils http://www.kpbs.org/

GRID Alternatives Bayview Installation featured on CBS 5
A recent GRID Alternatives solar installation with a homeowner in Bayview was featured on CBS 5, the video clip can be viewed on the CBS 5 website. cbs5.com

GRID Co-Founder Tim Sears profiled by Bay Area News Group
Tim Sears, Co-Founder of Grid Alternatives, was interviewed by Charlotte Cusack of the Bay Area News Group. insidebayarea.com

GRID Alternatives featured in San Francisco Magazine
The June 2009 issue of San Francisco magazine features profiles of 19 great ideas for doing good that are spreading from the Bay Area, and features GRID Alternatives! You can read the full article on the San Francisco Magazine website, or see a picture of our spread (featuring GRID's first solar installer trainee Lafo Laulu) here. http://www.sanfranmag.com/

GRID Alternatives in April/May Issue of Home Power Magazine
The April/May 2009 issue of Home Power magazine featured a story on GRID Alternatives work making renewable energy accessible to Habitat for Humanity Homeowners. http://www.homepower.com/home/

GRID Alternatives/Applied Materials install in Santa Clara featured in local news!
GRID Alternatives completed solar installations with three homeowners in a Santa Clara Habitat for Humanity - Silicon Valley development on May 9, 2009 in partnership with 45 volunteers from Applied Materials. A news clip from NBC 11 (KNTV) can be viewed here and a clip from CBS 5 (KPIX) can be found by following this link. An interview with GRID Alternatives Development Director Zach Franklin on KCBS radio can be heard here. www.nbcbayarea.com - cbs5.com - wwww.kcbs.com

Go Solar California features GRID Alternatives in their February '09 newsletter!
The February 2009 California Solar Initiative newsletter featured a GRID system installation in partnership with the Oakland Redevelopment Agency and job trainees from the Oakland Green Job Corps program. www.gosolarcalifornia.org

GRID Alternatives in The Potrero View
The Potrero View featured GRID Alternatives' work with the San Francisco Department of the Environment to install solar power systems for low-income homes in Potrero Hill and Bayview-Hunters Point. www.potreroview.net

Radio Bilingüe visits a GRID Alternatives project in Fresno
Radio Bilingüe, a non-profit Latino radio network that distributes Spanish-language programming to public radio affiliates around the country, recently completed a Spanish-language profile of a GRID Alternatives project in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Fresno County. www.radiobilingue.org

NPR profiles a Richmond job training success story
NPR's Morning Edition on Dec. 17th featured Andre, a participant in one of our Richmond installations with Solar Richmond and Richmond BUILD, who has been able to leverage that experience to get a job with Berkeley-based Sun Light & Power. www.npr.org

Time Magazine features a GRID Alternatives installation
Time Magazine recently ran a brief article highlighting a recent GRID Alternatives project in the City of Richmond for Annie, a low-income Richmond homeowner. The article uses the project to highlight the broader efforts of Van Jones' Green for All initiative, but the actual installation was done by GRID Alternatives, Solar Richmond and Richmond BUILD. The installation was fully sponsored by SunPower Corporation, including donations of panels, an inverter and related hardware. www.time.com

KTVU visits our first installation in Richmond
KTVU (Channel 2) news did a piece on our first low-income solar installation project in the City of Richmond, where all the volunteer labor was conducted by local trainees at the City's Richmond BUILD job training program. There was also related coverage of this project in the Contra Costa Times, in the San Francisco Business Times, and on TV20's Your Green Life segment. http://www.ktvu.com/

GRID Alternatives in the Palo Alto Daily News
GRID Alternatives first solar installation in East Palo Alto was featured in the August 20th Palo Alto Daily News, including pictures of our volunteers in action. http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/

GRID Alternatives on NBC 11 (KNTV) News
Erica Mackie, GRID Alternatives' Executive Director and Co-Founder, was interviewed on the NBC 11 morning news by KNTV's Laura Garcia-Cannon. http://www.nbc11.com/

GRID Alternatives in the Oakland Tribune
GRID Alternatives was featured on the front of the Tribune's business section on July 27th, 2007 in an article on "Green Jobs", including a great photo of our Construction Assistant, Lafo Laulu! http://www.insidebayarea.com/

GRID Alternatives in the San Mateo County Times
The San Mateo County Times featured our work with Peninsula Habitat for Humanity at their Brisbane development. http://www.insidebayarea.com/

GRID Alternatives on KPFA Radio
KPFA radio's Full Circle, the weekly radio magazine of KPFA's First Voice Apprenticeship Program, recently featured GRID Alternatives on a panel of Bay Area nonprofit organizations. You can listen to the program here. The KPFA First Voice Apprenticeship is an intensive 18-month Affirmative Action training program that brings primarily women and people of color into the field of radio. kpfa.org/apprentice

GRID Alternatives in the Woodland Daily Democrat
The Woodland Daily Democrat came out to one of our recent volunteer workdays with PG&E out at our Habitat for Humanity Yolo County build in June. http://www.dailydemocrat.com/

Renewable Energy World highlights GRID's work with Habitat for Humanity
Renewable Energy World magazine published this article in their May/June 2007 issue highlighting GRID Alternatives work with Habitat for Humanity East Bay, with a focus on the Freeda Court development in Livermore where GRID Alternatives has installed solar electric systems on all 22 homes. Renewable Energy World is a leading international publication for renewable energy professionals, and is distributed in over 120 countries. http://www.renewable-energy-world.com/

GRID Alternatives featured by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has featured GRID Alternatives' recent projects in San Mateo County in their recent e-newsletter. SVCF is the fourth largest community foundation in the nation with more than $1.5 billion in assets and more than 1,400 philanthropic funds. http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/

GRID Alternatives on TreehuggerTV
TreehuggerTV did a video feature on our Solarthon 2006 event. Treehugger is a fast-growing web magazine, dedicated to everything that has a modern aesthetic yet is environmentally responsible. www.treehugger.com

Bringing Light to Low-Income Communities
GRID Alternatives co-founder Tim Sears, P.E. penned this article for Solar Today magazine as an overview of our Solar Affordable Housing Program. This article is republished courtesy of SOLAR TODAY, the award-winning magazine published by the American Solar Energy Society and dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. www.solartoday.org

Solar Power to the People
An article by Mike Nowak in the San Francisco Bay Guardian in December 2004 as the Solar Affordable Housing Program was finishing its first year of pilot projects. www.sfbg.com

Green Light: Could solar power become the Bay Area's answer to overpriced electricity?
A column by Carol Lloyd of the San Francisco Chronicle featuring one of GRID Alternatives' earliest solar installations for low-income families. www.sfgate.com