On Saturday, May 19th GRID IE hosted its inaugural community solar installation and annual fundraiser, Solarthon, in the City of San Jacinto, California.

In April it was Madera, a small agricultural community outside of Fresno; in May, San Jacinto; in June, National City, San Diego’s unassuming neighbor, and East San Jose in July. All over California, entire working–class neighborhoods are going solar through GRID Alternatives’ “Solarthons.” During these one-day events, hundreds of volunteers from all walks of life join low-income homeowners to install solar electric systems on multiple homes in one neighborhood in one day, while raising money and awareness for GRID Alternatives’ work.

When Denise Alvarez signed up for the Green Building Construction program at the Center for Employment Training, she never imagined she’d be working on the roof with the CEO of SunPower. But last Friday, she joined GRID and a team of SunPower employees and executives...

A Millenial’s experience at San Diego Solarthon 2012, by San Diego Volunteer Lauren Lindner

For Johannes Copeland, a former Marine Corps Logistics Officer and GRID Alternatives veteran who started his own installation company, solar power is about energy independence more than anything else. In two tours in Iraq, he says he saw first-hand the impact of our dependence on fossil fuels.

Steve Tate became a GRID Alternatives volunteer after a severe motorcycle accident in East Oakland in September 2010. “I felt myself bleeding, and looked up to someone’s eyes.

At 90-plus degrees, Saturday was a sweaty day for the third annual GRID Alternatives Central Valley Solarthon, but for the families of Parksdale, it was a happy one. Thanks to the hard work of over 100 individual sponsors, corporate employee volunteers, job trainees and the homeowners themselves, the families’ electrical meters will be running backward this summer, not forward, saving them thousands of dollars during what is usually a season of high bills.

When Bryson Pagh, a solar student at Fresno City College, showed up at a job fair for Real Goods Solar two years ago, there was one thing that set him apart from the hundreds of other job seekers: he already had close to 70 hours of hands-on installation experience under his belt through GRID Alternatives.

Jose Damian is a cancer survivor, one of our amazing homeowners who is full of life and determination to make the best out of what life has given him.

Hector Villegas was unemployed and although he had a desire to work in the green energy field, he lacked the necessary skills to land a job. That all changed when he became a volunteer with GRID Alternatives and gained the knowledge and experience he needed to land his dream job.