A new article in Solar Today discusses the Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative, a group in Washington, D.C. organizing their neighborhood for rooftop solar installations. (The article mentions solargardens.org ... hooray!)
In 2006, then 12-year-old Walter Lynn attended a screening of Al Gore's "An Incovenient Truth", and asked his mother, Anya Schoolman, "Can we go solar?"
In a testament to the Power of Mom, Anya replied "We've already looked into solar [...] If we are going to do all the work to figure this out, we might as well do the whole neighborhood." And that's just what they did... the Mount Pleasant neighborhood recently celebrated its 100th rooftop solar installation.
Anyone who does this will find what we all find - shaded roofs, old roofs, apartments, and tenants who pay the electricity bill, giving no incentive for the landlord to install solar. Anya has been working with the Solar Gardens Institute and Vote Solar's community solar effort to establish solar gardens laws in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Even beyond that, Anya has become a key organizer in the burgeoning Community Power movement, leveraging her skills and connections from working with government, foundations, and non profits.
I hope she succeeds and solar gardens sprout in our nation's capitol!
Joy Hughes
Founder, Solar Gardens Institute
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