C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium 2013: Seth Weissman presents the Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business Models Award to Erica Mackie, co-founder and CEO of Grid Alternatives.
Erica Mackie is the CEO and co-founder of GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer. She founded the organization in 2001 while working as a professional engineer implementing large-scale renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for the private sector. Her vision was to make the benefits of these technologies available to low-income communities that need the savings the most, but have the least access.
Together with her co-founder Tim Sears, she launched the Solar Affordable Housing Program in 2004, where GRID Alternatives trains and leads teams of job trainees and other community volunteers to install solar electric systems for low-income families. Every project generates “triple bottom line” results: measurable, long-term financial benefits for low-income families struggling to keep up with monthly expenses; real-world, hands-on experience for local workers in the growing field of solar installation; and environmental benefits by eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and building support for solar power as a practical solution for all of our communities.
Before becoming an engineer Ms. Mackie worked with at-risk youth from the Chicago-area juvenile justice system, leading groups of teenagers from the South Side of Chicago on therapeutic wilderness trips in Northern Ontario. Her career and success demonstrate the power of bringing together the rigorous technical approach of an engineer with the focus of a social worker to serve individuals and communities in need.
RELATED NEWS
Stories from the 2013 C3E Symposium at MIT — http://mitei.mit.edu/news/stories-2013-c3e-symposium-mit
Event Highlights Need for Women in Clean Energy — http://mitei.mit.edu/news/event-highlights-need-women-clean-energy
DOE-MIT partnership awards women for energy leadership — http://mitei.mit.edu/news/doe-mit-partnership-awards-women-energy-leadership
___
The MIT Energy Initiative is MIT’s hub for energy research, education, and outreach. Learn more at energy.mit.edu.
Post time: Sep-21-2017