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The Walmart Foundation announced a $1.2 million donation to the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) to install solar panels on 20 schools in five U.S. cities. The five cities taking part in the program are Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Seattle and Washington, D.C.
“The Walmart Solar School program will help educate the next generation on the opportunities and benefits of using more renewable energy,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation.
NEED will work with the school districts in each city to identify the participating schools. Annually, the 20 solar installations are expected to generate approximately 150,000 kilowatt- hours (kWh) of electricity, save the schools more than $15,000 in energy costs and prevent more than 100 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.
In addition to aligning with Walmart’s renewable-energy goal and commitment to education and teachers, this grant will help create and sustain green jobs. All of the panels used in the Solar Schools program are manufactured in the United States. According to NEED, this program will help support green jobs, including engineering, design and installer technician jobs.
