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RENEW Wisconsin Newswire – November 15, 2002
New Solar System Graces Church Rooftop
MADISON, WI – Madison Christian Community, known for its environmentally concerned congregation, is now making use of a heavenly source of energy--the sun--to illuminate and cool its West Side building.
Located at 7118 Old Sauk Road, the Madison Christian Community (MCC) is an ecumenical partnership between Community of Hope, a United Church of Christ congregation, and Advent Lutheran, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Songs and prayers filled the air last Sunday as Pastor Jeff Wild led a dedication ceremony in front of the church. As the ceremony progressed, filtered sunshine passing through the thinning clouds overhead energized the 18-panel photovoltaic array on the church’s rooftop. Inside the church, a computer monitoring system measured the electricity produced on the roof and displayed the building’s net energy profile in 15-minute intervals.
Long interested in generating renewable energy on its five-acre site, the Madison Christian Community examined several options, including a small wind generator, before going with a 2.7 kilowatt solar electric system. The array sits upon on a relatively new addition to the church. As if to dare the congregation to place a solar system on it, the roof on the addition faces due south and slopes at a 45-degree angle. Rarely does one find in existing buildings an orientation this optimal.
The solar array calls attention to MCC’s long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship. Pastor Wild hopes that the unit’s prominent location will inspire other faith communities as well as the general public to take the initiative in working renewable energy sources into one’s daily life.
Kevin Little of Informing Ecological Design, LLC, who designed the church’s energy monitoring system, estimates that the solar system will contribute about 25% of the electricity consumed on weekdays. The unit should produce about 3,400 kilowatt-hours per annum, roughly comparable to what a small, efficient home consumes in a year.
Not only does the energy monitoring system track output from the solar system, it also converts the displaced electricity from the grid into avoided emissions. That is a very important part of the education process, Wild said.
“Even if only 1% of Wisconsin’s churches were to host photovoltaic systems,” Wild said, “that would be 52 churches. Nevertheless, if 52 churches installed photovoltaic systems, they would reach thousands of parishioners and expose them to the long-term benefits of photovoltaic energy. The harvest is plentiful!”
Little’s energy monitoring system is proving to be an effective tool for identifying energy savings opportunities in the church building and acting on them. Employees are, for example, waiting until the congregation disperses before running the dishwasher on Sundays. As might be expected with a church, energy use peaks on Sunday, especially in summer. Waiting until the building’s air-conditioning system is turned off before turning on the dishwasher helps shave the building’s load at peak.
Before the solar system was installed and commissioned, MCC replaced many of the interior lights and ballasts with newer, more energy-efficient fixtures, cutting building electricity consumption by 5%. The congregation is committed to reducing energy consumption by 15%, an achievement that can be verified with the monitoring system.
Another energy-management system under consideration would draw in cooler nighttime air into the congregation rooms in advance of Sunday services. Precooling interior spaces before they become filled with people would shorten the time needed to run the air-conditioning system at peak, Little said.
Energy use also spikes up on Sunday evenings when the Madison Children’s Choir gathers for singing practice. As a result of Little’s energy monitoring system, church officials were able to measure the choir’s contribution to the building’s energy load, and subsequently adjusted rental payments upward to reflect its actual impact on the church’s bottom line.
“Madison Christian Community is “the first church in the country I know of to have solar generation and whole building energy monitoring all wrapped up in one package,” said Wild, who became Advent Lutheran’s pastor in 2000.
To fund the installation, MCC tapped into two sources: its building maintenance budget and a $15,000 matching grant from Focus on Energy’s renewable energy program. The match from Focus on Energy also supports the monitoring system that displays the building’s electricity profile around the clock, including the contribution from the photovoltaic system. By next spring, one should be able to track building usage through MCC’s web site.
Contact: Kevin Little, Informing Ecological Design, LLC
Phone: 608.251.4355; E-mail: info@iecodesign.com
Contact: Pastor Jeff Wild, Advent Lutheran,
Phone: 608.836.1455; E-mail: mccwild@chorus.net
Contact: Niels Wolter, Focus on Energy
Phone: 608:831.1127x308; E-mail: wolter@msbnrg.com
Michael Vickerman
RENEW Wisconsin
222 S. Hamilton St.
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: (608) 255-4044
To learn how renewable energy is powering Wisconsin, visit RENEW Wisconsin's web site at http://www.renewwisconsin.org.
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