Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

GRID Alternatives is a national energy equity nonprofit with the mission to build community-powered solutions to advance economic and environmental justice through renewable energy. GRID Alternatives was founded during the 2001 California energy crisis by Erica Mackie, P.E., and Tim Sears, P.E., two engineering professionals implementing large-scale renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for the private sector. The idea that drove them was simple: free, clean electricity from the sun should be available to everyone. They developed our organizational model through GRID to make solar photovoltaic technology practical and accessible for low-income communities while providing pathways to clean energy jobs. Today, GRID is a national thought leader for low-income renewable energy policy and the nation‚ largest nonprofit solar installer.

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As an organization working to build a just renewable energy system, GRID understands that it is crucial to advance an equity agenda across our organization and simultaneously dismantle white supremacy in our structures and support healing from individual and collective traumas. While we seek to support the intersectionality of identities that create an inclusive workplace, we focus on race as the centerpiece of our Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) work. 

Our core renewable energy installation services exclusively serve low-income households and residents of multi-family affordable housing. Our workforce development programs aim to support those underrepresented in renewable energy, including women, people of color, indigenous people, and formerly incarcerated individuals. To date, 79% of our solar clients and 65% of our training participants who provided demographic information to GRID have self-identified as people of color. As we continue to scale our impact, communities with systemic barriers to renewable energy access will remain at the center of GRID‚ work.

Additionally, GRID has developed a formal Commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity that includes:

- Advancing an equity agenda both within GRID Alternatives and in the energy industry and policy arenas by examining and addressing systemic inequities, seeking out and amplifying the voices of the communities we serve, and expanding access to solar energy and career and leadership opportunities.

- Creating an inclusive, welcoming environment on our job sites, workplaces, and board rooms where staff, volunteers, trainees, clients, and community representatives are heard, supported, respected, and valued.

- Building a culture of equity and inclusion that supports and fosters diversity. We aim to reflect the communities we serve at all levels of the organization, especially leadership, and promote these values within the energy industry. Our focus areas for diversity work include but are not limited to: race, class, gender, sexual orientation, education level, veteran status, dis/ability, and those impacted by the criminal justice system. Currently, 66% of our staff and 55% of senior leadership self-identify as people of color; 50% of all GRID staff and 52% of senior leadership self-identified as women.

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