As the 2013 Nonprofit Mission Award winner in Innovation, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) has transformed the way low-income families obtain heat resources in a way that creates self-reliance and independence. RREAL’s Solar Assistance program is a nationally unique strategy that brings an innovative and sustainable solution to the pervasive societal challenge of fuel poverty. Fuel poverty exists when members of a household cannot afford to heat their home adequately and have to choose between heating and other basic necessities – an annual problem experienced by 585,000 Minnesotan households in 2012 alone. Check out the short video below.
RREAL addresses this community challenge by providing households struggling to meet their heat needs with a long-term, domestic and carbon-neutral solution by installing a solar-powered furnace on homes of families and individuals grappling with fuel poverty.
With each passing year the impact of RREAL grows. Since 2011, the Solar Assistance program has provided 217 low-income households with solar heat.
When asked what’s in store for RREAL, Jason Edens, RREAL’s director replied, “While continuing to work towards scaling our Solar Assistance program model nationwide as a lasting solution to fuel poverty, RREAL will install at least 30 more solar powered furnaces on low-in-come homes across the upper Midwest in 2014. The biggest change that 2014 brings to RREAL is the beginning of a for-profit subsidiary to sustain our Solar Assistance Program. As we launch this endeavor, we maintain our commitment to energy security and environmental stewardship.”
This article was featured in the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. To learn more about RREAL’s mission and programs, please visit more on RREAL’s solar assistance, or RREAL’s solar-powered-furnace information.
