The following guest post was written by Amber Wason from Green DC Realty.
Mount Pleasant Solar Coop is born…
In September of 2006, Mount Pleasant resident, Jeff Morley, was dragged to see An Inconvenient Truth by his (then) 12 year-old son, Diego. Impacted by the documentary, the boy and his friend carried the discussion home, and what began as a dinner table discussion resulted in a promise to do something about it.
In response, neighbors, Jeff Morley and Anya Schoolman, and their teenage sons, Walter Lynn and Diego Arene-Morley, founded the Mount Pleasant Solar Coop. It is their answer to addressing the sense of urgency to do something to reduce their impact on global warming.
They were led to the coop model for two reasons: first, they figured if they were going to go through the work of figuring out how to install solar technology, they should include more people and have a bigger impact. Second, they needed a way to bring down the cost, and hoped through bulk purchasing they could share expenses and expertise with neighbors.
They began with ambitious goals and thought it was feasible to have something up and running within a year. While sounding reasonable, the early contributors learned that they would face many obstacles; a steep learning curve around this topic of solar. They resiliently unbundled the prohibiting factors solar presents to homeowners, addressing each one individually and holistically. Their persistent efforts paid off as the group celebrated completing 47 solar installations in the fall of 2009.
The remarkable efforts of this group serve to be an example for other groups in DC, and late in 2008, we saw a second coop model emerge in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Then came the Capitol Hill Energy Cooperative…
In 2008, homeowners, businesses, and churches in the Capitol Hill neighborhood decided they too wanted to do something to address climate change and lower energy bills. Your browser may not support display of this image.
Continues after the jump. (more…)
