Community Power
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![Our Road to Groundswell: The Monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel]()
Our Road to Groundswell: The Monastery of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
While the first Carmelites were hermits on Mt Carmel, the Discalced Carmelites owe their existence to St Teresa of Jesus of Avila, in sixteenth century Spain. She was inspired to found one house where the community would be few in number and all would be equal. She wanted the life style to be simple and prayerful. Her vision caught on. In her life time she founded 17 monasteries of women and was instrumental, with the collaboration of St John of the Cross, in the founding of the first two monasteries of friars. This is quite remarkable when you consider that women in her day were not taken seriously. She composed a number of works, now considered Classics of Spirituality, that were submitted to the Inquisition. She was deeply contemplative yet eminently practical as well.
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![O-Zones for Clean Energy]()
O-Zones for Clean Energy
With over 30 years of experience supporting teams, advising projects, and writing reports on urban sustainability; Julia Parzen is a thought leader in the field. Julia wrote for Groundswell about various Opportunity Zone initiatives that are bringing affordable solar energy to economically diverse communities across the country. We’re excited to share Julia’s comprehensive research on a few of the numerous economic incentives available to help inform the urban sustainability field nationally, and connect solar project developers looking to offer similar programs with the resources to do so.
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![LIFT Solar Research Collaborative Update: June/July]()
LIFT Solar Research Collaborative Update: June/July
The DOE awarded Groundswell and its partners Elevate Energy, Southface, and Clean Energy Works funds for a research collaboration. The project, called Accelerating Low-Income Financing and Transactions for Solar Access Everywhere or “LIFT Solar Everywhere” will determine the optimal financing and program elements (customer experience factors) that community solar projects need to best serve every member of our communities, and especially our energy burdened neighbors. LIFT will use data from energy efficiency, solar and community solar programs nationwide to analyze how best to serve low-income families.
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![Community Solar Kick Off: St. Luke Baptist Church, D.C.]()
Community Solar Kick Off: St. Luke Baptist Church, D.C.
Celebrations were in order as Groundswell kicked off its second community solar project in D.C. at the 100-year-old St. Luke Baptist church in Ward 4’s historic 16th Street Heights neighborhood. The 55 kW roof installation will deliver 100% of the electricity it generates to 15 low-income families in the community at no cost as a part of the District of Columbia’s Solar for All program, cutting each family’s utility bill in half.
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![Solar in Bloom at LaGrange Housing Authority]()
Solar in Bloom at LaGrange Housing Authority
Groundswell recently collaborated with the Solutions Project, a nonprofit that funds renewable energy projects that build public will and interest, to install a solar Smartflower at the LaGrange Housing Authority (LHA). A first of its kind in area, the Smartflower will produce energy that will help reduce the monthly utility bill of LHA’s administrative office. Those savings will then be earmarked to fund future, youth afterschool programming and education.
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![Community Solar Kick Off: Dupont Seventh Day Adventist Church, D.C.]()
Community Solar Kick Off: Dupont Seventh Day Adventist Church, D.C.
Thanks in part to Solar For All DC, a program of the Department of Energy and Environment, Groundswell broke ground on two landmark solar projects totaling 168kW of capacity at the 100-year-old DuPont Park Seventh Day Adventist Church located in DC’s historic Ward 7 neighborhood.
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![Black Green History: Making History with Mohawk]()
Black Green History: Making History with Mohawk
A building in and of itself is not anything but a building. The value of a sustainable building is that it educates the people in the building who then go and begin to pollinate that message of responsibility in their own communities and homes.
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![Black Green History: Increasing Diversity in the Solar Market]()
Black Green History: Increasing Diversity in the Solar Market
We caught up with Terrell Richmond, president and CEO of NYMBUS, to review the compelling findings in his new report and ideas on how to increase the opportunities for diverse participation in the Baltimore and D.C. solar industry.
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![Report: Solar Empowers...Some]()
Report: Solar Empowers...Some
The State of Diversity and Inclusion in the Solar Sector In Washington, DC And Baltimore, MD
A new report by NYMBUS Holdings highlights immediate and measurable steps to close the diversity gap in Washington DC’s solar marketplace to address the underrepresentation of minority and women-owned businesses at every level of the solar supply chain.
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![We Listened To Our Customers, And Here’s What We Learned]()
We Listened To Our Customers, And Here’s What We Learned
At Groundswell, we believe that affordable clean energy is a necessity, not a luxury, and that we can’t afford to leave our neighbors in need behind. Our Share Power© model allows solar subs
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![Elevate Energy Puts Landmark Illinois Clean Energy Law to Work for Working Communities]()
Elevate Energy Puts Landmark Illinois Clean Energy Law to Work for Working Communities
A Chicago nonprofit is building energy efficiency jobs programs in working communities that for too long have been shut out of the clean energy boom.
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![Sharing Power: Paving the way toward inclusive solar access]()
Sharing Power: Paving the way toward inclusive solar access
Expanding the conversation on ways to provide equitable solar throughout the country, Groundswell will be hosting a discussion panel September 10, 2018 in affiliation with the Global Climate
