Veterans Make Solar Home in a Day
Veterans with disabilities resulting from military conflicts such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated their abilities in rapidly erecting a temporary home featuring SolarWorld solar panels this week on Los Angeles City Hall’s south lawn.
The project to build a universally accessible house in a matter of hours was one element of a 20th anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which recognizes and protects the rights of Americans with disabilities to participate in U.S. work, commerce and community life.
The LA Department of Disability, a nonprofit group Prevent Hate and veterans from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Long Beach Healthcare System staged the home project to demonstrate a joint training program to foster empowerment in at-risk and marginalized populations.
The dwelling exemplified an ADA-compliant structure that can be quickly deployed during emergencies, used to reduce homelessness and constructed easily by people with disabilities. SolarWorld Sunmodules were placed, but not installed, on the roof.
“We need to embrace suitable job candidates among our returning military for redeployment on a new, green mission for America: marshaling our own manufacturing prowess to diversify our energy base to include reliable, clean, undiminishing energy from the sun,” said Kevin Kilkelly, SolarWorld’s president of U.S. sales.
“We also need to spread that technology in countless regions that, due to disaster, war or poverty, lack electricity to care for themselves according to basic health and life standards.”
Prevent Hate promotes community empowerment and intergroup relations.
SolarWorld, a leading crystalline solar technology manufacturer in the Americas, was premier sponsor of the temporary home project on July 26.
The company recognizes the destabilizing and military effects of the world’s overdependence on fossil fuels and the need for veterans returned to their home countries to find sustainable employment.
It also advocates the unique strengths of solar technology in generating electricity in remote locations and emergency situations.
