[1] The organization had its beginnings in 2007 when Walter Schoolman and his friend Diego Arene-Morley, both aged 12, watched the film An Inconvenient Truth.
[5][3][4] As a group, they convinced some of their neighbors to join together to increase their buying power for solar installations.
The initial group had by 2009 installed solar panels for 45 homes in Washington D.C.’s Mt.
[7] By March 2021, the effort had installed solar panels for 5,200 homes in the United States.
[9][10][11] In 2021 SUN joined with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance[12] and the Initiative for Energy Justice[13] in the 30 Million Solar Homes campaign.