Lawrenceville parish cares for creation by building solar panel bridge
September 27, 2019 at 9:10 p.m.
Parishioner Cullan Evan smiled as he watched the blessing of the new solar-paneled bridge that stretches across the parking lot between St. Ann Church, Lawrenceville, and the parish school.
He said he sees the bridge as being “a spiritual work in light of our call to take care of God’s creation.”
The bridge, which is raised and crosses over an area of the parking lot where there is an extended sidewalk, is the latest project that the parish and school had undertaken as a way to reduce their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly.
“The solar installation will save the parish a considerable amount of money in energy costs,” said Mary Lou Hartman, a parishioner and member of the parish’s Green Team. “It will be an example for other faith communities who wish to take an active role in preservation of the earth.”
Meredith Daniel, a parishioner and science teacher in the school, explained that discussions to have the campus buildings operate with solar powered energy began in 2012, when Msgr. Vincent Gartland was pastor at the time. Ever since, the parish’s succeeding pastors and Green Team members -- who are a group of parishioners that meet monthly to discuss practical ways that the community can become more environmentally friendly – has been searching for practical ways to make their idea come to fruition. Some of the team’s accomplishments over the years have included working with youth ministry members to plant trees and build a garden near the school; distribute 200 reusable shopping bags in an effort to help people limit single-use bag waste and initiating participation in the Lawrence Township Organic Waste Recycling Program. In October 2018, the team helped with planning the installation of solar panels on the school roof. The new solar panels on the bridge will begin harnessing energy once final tests and permits are completed, Daniel said.
With the solar panels, Daniel said that St. Ann Church and St. Ann School are now able to generate electricity from the sun. Otherwise, the energy would come from burning fossil fuels which, and as a result, would emit carbon dioxide into the air. Daniel noted that research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association indicates that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years.
Even though there are natural fluctuations in carbon dioxide concentration throughout Earth’s history, the annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases, she said.
“This suggests that as the human population has increased, as well as energy demand for this growing population, humans have contributed to the increase of carbon dioxide in the air,” Daniel said. “Carbon dioxide has a greenhouse effect, which means the more carbon dioxide there is in the air, the higher the average global temperature will be, and this has numerous repercussions on the global environment.”
Of the new solar energy project, Daniel said it is expected to provide more than 360,000 kilowatt-hours per year for the parish campus, which partnered with IGS Solar and Green Energy Construction and Consulting. GECC built the arrays while IGS finances, owns and operates the project. She said the parish will purchase 100 percent of the power generated through a long-term solar power purchase agreement with IGA Solar. The three arrays contain 919 panels on the roofs of the school, church and carport and the total size of the arrays is 295 kW. The church has also planted 39 trees on the property.
During the Mass he celebrated Sept. 15 prior to the blessing of the solar project, Msgr. Gartland, in his homily, made a connection between the Gospel of the Prodigal Son and the importance of caring for the earth.
“We are squandering our inheritance of 14 billion years of evolution,” Msgr. Gartland said, and “now like the younger son, we are finding ourselves wallowing in a poisonous and degraded biosphere, ignoring the scientists who like the prophets of old warn about the dire consequences of the massive extinction that our selfish over-consumption is causing.”
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Parishioner Cullan Evan smiled as he watched the blessing of the new solar-paneled bridge that stretches across the parking lot between St. Ann Church, Lawrenceville, and the parish school.
He said he sees the bridge as being “a spiritual work in light of our call to take care of God’s creation.”
The bridge, which is raised and crosses over an area of the parking lot where there is an extended sidewalk, is the latest project that the parish and school had undertaken as a way to reduce their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly.
“The solar installation will save the parish a considerable amount of money in energy costs,” said Mary Lou Hartman, a parishioner and member of the parish’s Green Team. “It will be an example for other faith communities who wish to take an active role in preservation of the earth.”
Meredith Daniel, a parishioner and science teacher in the school, explained that discussions to have the campus buildings operate with solar powered energy began in 2012, when Msgr. Vincent Gartland was pastor at the time. Ever since, the parish’s succeeding pastors and Green Team members -- who are a group of parishioners that meet monthly to discuss practical ways that the community can become more environmentally friendly – has been searching for practical ways to make their idea come to fruition. Some of the team’s accomplishments over the years have included working with youth ministry members to plant trees and build a garden near the school; distribute 200 reusable shopping bags in an effort to help people limit single-use bag waste and initiating participation in the Lawrence Township Organic Waste Recycling Program. In October 2018, the team helped with planning the installation of solar panels on the school roof. The new solar panels on the bridge will begin harnessing energy once final tests and permits are completed, Daniel said.
With the solar panels, Daniel said that St. Ann Church and St. Ann School are now able to generate electricity from the sun. Otherwise, the energy would come from burning fossil fuels which, and as a result, would emit carbon dioxide into the air. Daniel noted that research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association indicates that carbon dioxide levels are currently higher than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years.
Even though there are natural fluctuations in carbon dioxide concentration throughout Earth’s history, the annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases, she said.
“This suggests that as the human population has increased, as well as energy demand for this growing population, humans have contributed to the increase of carbon dioxide in the air,” Daniel said. “Carbon dioxide has a greenhouse effect, which means the more carbon dioxide there is in the air, the higher the average global temperature will be, and this has numerous repercussions on the global environment.”
Of the new solar energy project, Daniel said it is expected to provide more than 360,000 kilowatt-hours per year for the parish campus, which partnered with IGS Solar and Green Energy Construction and Consulting. GECC built the arrays while IGS finances, owns and operates the project. She said the parish will purchase 100 percent of the power generated through a long-term solar power purchase agreement with IGA Solar. The three arrays contain 919 panels on the roofs of the school, church and carport and the total size of the arrays is 295 kW. The church has also planted 39 trees on the property.
During the Mass he celebrated Sept. 15 prior to the blessing of the solar project, Msgr. Gartland, in his homily, made a connection between the Gospel of the Prodigal Son and the importance of caring for the earth.
“We are squandering our inheritance of 14 billion years of evolution,” Msgr. Gartland said, and “now like the younger son, we are finding ourselves wallowing in a poisonous and degraded biosphere, ignoring the scientists who like the prophets of old warn about the dire consequences of the massive extinction that our selfish over-consumption is causing.”