Luminalt Energy Corporation‘s CEO Jeanine Cotter is featured in the July issue of Money 
magazine. The article describes Cotter’s transition from corporate lawyer at Silicon Valley-based Intuit to starting her own solar installation company in 2004. Cotter says, “Just looking at the rising cost of energy and the concern over global warming, I saw an opportunity.” Money photographed Cotter at the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center for the article. Non-profit Tel-Hi has been providing services to youth, seniors and families in San Francisco since 1890. Tel-Hi received a free SunPower solar system in 2011 through Luminalt’s collaboration with non-profit One Atmosphere, Ecomedia, SunPower Corporation, and musical band CAKE.
Cotter has made community involvement central to Luminalt’s business model. Luminalt is San Francisco’s only certified woman-owned solar company and hires from local workforce development programs. Luminalt was the first San Francisco solar company to become workforce development certified through GoSolarSF. The innovative solar incentive program has supported over 1,700 solar installations and created targeted full-time jobs for underserved individuals through its local hiring mandate.
CNN Money interviewed Cotter as a tie-in to the article in Money. The web video shows Cotter in the warehouse and views of Luminalt, an Elite SunPower Dealer, installing SunPower solar panels on a home rebuilt after the 2010 PG&E gas line explosion in San Bruno. Luminalt has installed more solar systems in San Francisco than any other company, with 414 systems since the program’s inception per California Solar Initiative data. In a highly fragmented market, Luminalt has installed at least 34% more systems than any competitors within San Francisco. Cotter is glad she made the career transition and started her own business. “I never envisioned myself as someone willing to take huge risks, but I’ve thrown myself into this and completely love it.”