On a recent Friday morning, the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles was a stir, commuters inquisitive as they noticed new faces along their early morning routes to work. The energy was centered around Rose Pinkney’s home where California Delivers was hosting an with GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles (GLA) installing solar. Powered by a group of volunteers from East Los Angeles Skills Center, GLA installed a 4.3 kW solar system for the Pinkney family, amounting to 160 solar installation training hours in total for the 10 solar job trainees volunteering on the project. Joining them at the event were representatives from The Better World Group, California Air Resources Board, Coalition for Clean Air, California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), Interfaith Power and Light, and Ascension Lutheran Church and New York City Parish.
Rose believes that solar is the way of the future. She previously worked in telecommunications and has always been very into technology. Solar was one of the major things she wanted to do to go green and fulfil one of her, self-proclaimed “techie,” goals. Rose is very involved in her community and says, “I would definitely recommend [going solar] to my neighbors. When there are problems in the neighborhood they come and knock on my door. Now when they see this on my house they will come to my door and ask me about how they can go solar.”
Rose will save about 80% on her electric bill – more than $30,000 over the next 30 years, but the environmental impacts are what excite her most. “To me, going solar is a way to give back to my community, to provide green energy,” says Rose.
Using proceeds from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) under the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), GRID Alternatives, GLA’s national parent organization, will provide rooftop solar to more than 1,600 families through 2016 across California. In the city of Los Angeles, GLA aims to install 200 systems over the next two years. Rose’s install represents some of the first cap and trade investments to reach economically and environmentally disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles.
For more coverage of the event, please visit:
- AB 32 helps low-income communities go solar at 2UrbanGirls
- Solar technology charges into South LA homes at Intersections South LA
Check out photos from the event here!
See if you qualify for going solar with GRID Alternatives here!