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Mormon Church unveils solar powered meetinghouse

I would be nice if you would tell us where it is other than Farmington.

Tah

Cool!

OH NO, the LDS Church is buying into the enviro whacko Al Gore hype.

Please tell me it aint so.

Yeah!!!!

And if Global Warming was a hoax,
Coal doesn't hurt the environment,
And the inversions are all natures fault and Man has nothing to do with them....

Then either LDS church is wrong,
or Limbaugh, Hannity and Bro. Glenn Beck are wrong....

@ GWB: I didn't see anything in this article about the church doing this to save the environment, but I did read they expect to save $6,000/year on utility costs.

Whether climate change is human-caused or not, utilizing alternative energy can be a smart economic move.

Good for the Church! Reducing your carbon footprint shows that you love your neighbor as yourself.

GWB: Al Gore is a politician. If you want to blame someone for uncovering the truth, blame John Tyndall, who discovered the ability of various gases to absorb radiant heat including CO2. He also did that in 1861 by the way.

The LDS Church believe in good stewardship of the environment and keeping pollution down. It doesn't have to be political. It doesn't have to be a vote for Gore or Hannity. It saves money and it is sustainable to the environment.

---GWB | 12:10 p.m. April 27, 2010
OH NO, the LDS Church is buying into the enviro whacko Al Gore hype.
Please tell me it aint so.---


From the LDS newsroom page that shows the Church isn't taking advice from you or Gore:

----“It’s about creating a place of worship that works in harmony with the environment,” said H. David Burton, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and responsible for the physical facilities of the Church. “For decades we have looked for innovative ways to use natural resources in our meetinghouses that reflect our commitment as wise stewards of God’s creations.”----

At this northern latitude, the panels will only provide enough electricity to power the building's lights in May through August on clear days. The rest of the year, their efficiency will be greatly reduced.

Since these panels probably cost upwards of $100,000 the Church won't save any money for years.

BTW, winter inversions ARE natural.

Sensible Scientist | 1:09 p.m.
---------

I've read your posts before.
You are a hard core Global Warming Denier.

Thererfore; you are most likely politically or AM radio ignorantly motivated.

The LDS church has been, and always will be Environmentally friendly.

If you are not LDS or are not doing what you can to improve our world -- then you are out of line.

So if the church isn't actually saving any money then it must have made the decision for other reasons. They are acting in an environmentally friendly way and helping to ease the human factors of global warming. It's really not that radical of an idea and we as members of the church should all be following suit.

And nobody ever said that winter inversions are not natural. All the pollution we pump into the air that gets trapped during the inversion, however, is unnatural.

@ Sensible Scientist: Like LDS Tree-Hugger, I too have read your posts.

And I doubt that you are either sensible or a scientist.

Modern solar panels are much more efficient at collecting energy and using it. There is no scientific reason why this LDS Church building cannot receive all its power from the solar panels - even the winter, even in Utah.

Winter inversions are natural in a bowl-shaped valley, however the mercury and sulphur dioxide they contain, because we continue to burn coal for power like something out of a Charles Dickens novel, are not. Chalk that up to man, not to mention the CO2 it unleashes as well.

Dear Sensible Scientist,
Some scientists might actually try an experiment and base their judgment on results not speculation.

New meetinghouses and all new temples will be built to LEED standards.

The Church is transitioning all the lights on temple square to LEDs.

And last March the Church participated in Earth Hour by turning off the lights of the Salt Lake Temple for an hour. Earth Hour was an event designed entirely to raise awareness of climate change issues in advance of the Copenhagen climate conference.

Once again, the Church leads, and the stiffnecked Utahns strain at the reins. For far too many Utahns, Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh are the 13th, 14th, and 15th apostles, and their counsel trumps that of the Brethren.

I am currently working on an LDS church here in Texas as a superintendent. I have talked to a few people back in Utah about this building. I am LDS as well, so I figure I can talk pretty unbiased about it. The comment about the church embracing "global warming" or being a "tree-hugger" are radically overstated. The church is very concerned about how their money is spent and about being good stewards of it, and although the initial cost is greater than not having them, these solar panels will EVENTUALLY even themselves out. I am sure they will have a greater impact further south, but the church builds these buildings planning on being in them a long time so the savings will be realized sooner or later. It will be interesting to see what their decision will be on whether or not these will be feasible to put on the majority of their new buildings. Time will tell. Personally, I think the idea is good, but the idea of radiant floor heating/cooling system for each building makes sense to me as well. I doubt they'll be putting that in their buildings anytime soon.

It would be nice if the handful of anti environmentalists in the LDS Church would stop making the LDS Church look bad. The LDS Church and its' leadership have a history of environmental efficiency that not only helps the environment but saves our tithing dollars for other uses. We may have dominion over the earth, it doesn't mean we should trash the place.

How will they protect this community asset from the sure-to-come vandalism?

Good to gain an experience base in this technology now, as panel costs are dropping pretty significantly - and in a few years as the economic ROI improves, they'll know the best places to do them and how to deal with them better. Everything an organization tries doesn't have to be the end-all, but it's a step in being good at what they do.