As part of his CleantechSF initiative, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee stopped by Luminalt last week to learn more about what we’re doing to increase solar adoption in San Francisco. Luminalt has installed more solar in San Francisco than any other company, all while maintaining a strong commitment to community.Jeanine Cotter, Luminalt’s CEO, sits on Mayor Ed Lee’s 100% Renewable Energy Task Force. As part of her advocacy work onGoSolarSF, Jeanine helped to make local hiring from job training programs a key part of access to city funds. As part of Luminalt’s commitment to workforce development, Luminalt has hired more employees from training programs than any other company and has the highest retention rate.
Mayor Ed Lee spoke withMelissa McDermott, Personal Project Manager, about her experience working with PG&E and the various rebate programs available to San Francisco residents. Melissa, a graduate of Asian Neighborhood Design, has worked with Luminalt since 2010. She was the first workforce development employee to be in the office, rather than on a roof, illustrating San Francisco’s commitment to expanding the reach of the new green collar economy.
After touring the office, Mayor Lee walked downstairs to tour Luminalt’s warehouse. Solar installers Lalo Rangel andMonique Washington showed the mayor the many components involved in installing solar, including microinverters for roofs with shading, mounts for different roof materials, and aluminum and stainless steel racking used to build the frame.
Solar hot water installers Charlie Jaworski andProject Open Hand that generates a steady supply of hot water for their kitchen. Recently, the State of California increased the rebate amount for solar hot water installations, making it an increasingly attractive option for multi-family residences, commercial kitchens, and gyms.
At the end of his tour, Mayor Ed Lee spoke with the entire Luminalt team about ways that San Francisco can create more jobs and increase solar in San Francisco. Luminalt has been on the forefront of advocating for combining electric vehicles with solar. There are excellent synergies between the two; electric vehicle owners produce solar during peak times (day light hours) and are credited at peak rates. At night, when electric rates are lowest, electric vehicle owners can charge up their car cheaply with clean power. It’s an elegant solution to driving green and saving money. To learn more about how Luminalt has helped our customers green their commute, please visit Green Your Commute.
Luminalt is looking forward to installing more solar in San Francisco than ever before to meet the City’s 100% Renewable goal by 2020 andcreating 25 local jobs over the next 3 years.