What do basketball star Bill Walton, twenty NRG Home Solar employees, and a baker in San Francisco have in common? The question might sound like the lead-in to a joke, but the answer is actually a pretty serious matter. The common thread between these people is a commitment to making solar power more accessible.
In March, as part of outreach around Earth Hour, basketball star Walton teamed up with NRG Home Solar to help increase awareness about climate change through a social media campaign. NRG made GRID Alternatives the beneficiary of its campaign, generously donating $10,000 to support our work.
Also in March, 20 NRG Home employees teamed up with GRID to install solar on the rooftop of a low-income family living in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. The father of the family of four, Blaine Peters, is a baker. Over two days, the crew hoisted panels, ran conduit, plugged in the system inverter and got to know the Peters family. Many of the NRG participants were engineers who spend their days building software or designing PV systems for customers. It was a welcome opportunity to get out on the jobsite itself and participate directly in the physical side of getting solar on rooftops.
Basketball, bakers, and the San Francisco Bay—who knew solar could bring so many pieces of the American landscape together, for a great cause, no less? Another day, another opportunity for partners like NRG and GRID Alternatives to work together to make a difference by helping families add more dollars to their monthly budgets.