Grace Episcopal Church to Install Solar Panels

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford is getting ready to install a 25kW solar array on their buildings. On Sunday, Ben Mayer and Anna Guigli, of SunBug Solar spoke to a full house at Grace’s Coffee Hour to tell members about their soon-to-be-installed solar array. The church’s solar installation will provide about 65% of the electricity currently used by the church. Ben told the congregation that hopeful future upgrades of lighting and other energy-using devices at the church will reduce the amount of electricity the church uses, and increase the percentage of electricity from solar from 65% to 80% or even 90%.

Grace Church has done a number of energy efficient upgrades recently including LED lights in the sanctuary and a new high efficiency heating system. “Part of our faith as Episcopalians is caring for God’s creation. We are working to care for creation in many ways including reducing our carbon footprint as a congregation,” said Jonathan Hunt, Chair of the Grace Church Building Committee.

“Reducing the Church’s footprint and energy usage is only the first step. We are also reaching out to members, encouraging them to reduce their carbon footprints at home and at work.” Jonathan explained on Sunday. Ben explained to the members that the Grace Church Vestry and Building Committee had been working on getting solar for the church for almost two years, because the finances for an installation on a house of worship can be complicated. “We have been working with many Houses of Worship through Interfaith Power & Light to work out the intricacies of solar financing for these buildings. Many religions strongly value Care for Creation and truly want to reduce their impact on the planet” Ben said during his talk.

SunBug Solar is coincidently the company that has been selected to partner in Medford on the Solarize Medford program. Solarize Medford is a special state and city sponsored program to help Medford residents install solar at a discount for a limited time. Until September 30th, Medford residents and property owners can get a free, no-obligation solar assessment to see if their building qualifies for the special discounted pricing. Some members of Grace have already had solar assessments from SunBug, but many more had questions about their specific situations and about the program in general and several signed up to have solar assessments done on their homes. Medford residents & property owners can find out more about Solarize Medford at http://medford.org/solar/ Houses of Worship that are interested in solar, whether or not they are in Medford, can contact Ben Mayer at ben.mayer@sunbugsolar.com for more information.

– Submitted by Jonathan McIndoe Hunt