As part of the events surrounding the American Geophysical Union conference taking place at Moscone center this week, Luminalt led a tour of theTelegraph Hill Neighborhood Center installation for theUnion of Concerned Scientists, an alliance of more than 250,000 citizens and scientists. The Union of Concerned Scientists is a non-profit that focuses on climate change, combining independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center received a free system through the work of Luminalt, the band CAKE, the SunPower Foundation,One Atmosphere, and over one hundred volunteers
Jean Sideris, from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Cambridge office, spoke about her work with national energy policy. Laura Wisland, from their Berkeley office, spoke to the group about her work on California energy policy, and how that policy has been instrumental to encouraging a major shift to renewable energy technologies. Luminalt’s CEO Jeanine Cotter has worked with Laura on supporting clean energy policy in California, including Proposition 23, a bill that would have repealed the state’s progressive emissions targets.
Tony Tyson of Tel Hi shows the systems production to UCS’ Laura Wisland in Tel Hi’s computer lab
Earlier this year, Luminalt worked with the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center to install a donated 33kW system for the organization, donating labor, engineering, racking, wiring, and so on. Tel Hi has been working with local children, seniors and families for the past 120 years and serves over 600 people every day. The savings on their monthly electrical bill translates into an extra $500-600 per month that goes directly into programs. As funding dries up, this extra budget has been essential to maintaining their senior programs, including free lunch, yoga, and arts classes. As Tony Tyson, Director of Programs, explained to the group, “It’s far more difficult to find funding for programs that serve seniors” than funding for children’s programs.
Nestor Fernandez talks about how the system has produced both electricity and savings for Tel Hi. Masks created in a senior art class, one of the programs supported by these savings, line the back wall.
- To make a donation to Tel Hi, please visit their website. If you refer a friend to Luminalt who decides to install solar on their own home or business, we will make a donation to Tel Hi in your honor.
- Read more about the Tel Hi installation and watch a time lapse video of over one hundred volunteers working together to install the system.
- Tel Hi’s system was recently featured in Photon, an international solar magazine.