Producing Clean Power
April 2019
2425 California Street Berkeley, CA
Northern California Land Trust (NCLT) is a Bay Area nonprofit that uses community ownership to provide affordable homes and community facilities in perpetuity. Founded in 1973, they have led the development of many innovations and developments in cooperative and community ownership models that help ensure housing and economic justice for all. Unity Gardens, located in Berkeley, California is a 6-unit affordable housing apartment community owned by NCLT. RE-volv brought solar to Unity Gardens in 2018, which allows residents to save money each month on their electricity bills.
What Unity Gardens Residents are Saying
“I can say that I have greatly benefited from the installation of the solar panels. I believe I see this most through recognizing the money saved on my electricity bill. Having a household with three children, tons of energy is used. It is also dependable during power outages.”
“It has helped a lot. I was on the PG&E program for low income people. The solar panels helped bring the bill down even more. It’s good and I really appreciate it.”
“Even if you can save 5 to 10 dollars a month, it’s a lot. I spent the savings on food [for myself and my 6 year old granddaughter], which helped when school closed. And when the school opened again, it helped with that.”
Partnering for Community Supported Solar Energy
A team of RE-volv Solar Ambassadors based in the Bay Area worked to bring solar to Unity Gardens. The Solar Ambassadors says, “We are solar enthusiasts with varying levels of industry experience who wanted to get involved to better our local community. We came across this project and were excited about the good work NCLT is doing, and the opportunity to help them harness the power of the sun.”
The Solar Ambassadors lead a fundraising campaign to pay for the upfront cost of the solar system and help educate the community about renewable energy.
RE-volv is proud to be partnering with GRID Alternatives, who installed the solar energy system at Unity Gardens. GRID Alternatives is the nation's largest nonprofit solar installer and has a mission of making renewable energy technology and job training accessible to underserved communities. A tremendous thanks to our partners, Northern California Land Trust and Patagonia for your support on this project! We'd also like to thank our partners at Jinko Solar for donating the solar panels for this installation!