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Los Altos church seeks higher power Print E-mail
Written by Elliott Burr - Staff Writer/elliottb@latc.com
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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Elliott Burr/Town Crier
Photo Elliott Burr/Town Crier John Benza of Bridges Community Church in Los Altos surveys the facility’s new rooftop solar panels.
When John Benza of Bridges Community Church in Los Altos mentions a “higher power,” it’s usually safe to assume he’s talking about God. But recently, he could also be referring to his church’s new rooftop solar panels.
Bridges last month installed a network of solar panels that Benza said size-wise tops the list of the largest city-permitted projects and will provide anywhere from 9,000 to 20,000 kilowatt-hours of power per month. That’s nearly enough energy to power the entire church and its two onsite schools. Los Altos High School’s recent installation is roughly five times larger.
“It’s very cool,” said the retired Benza, who spent 20 years at IBM. “I look at the history of prior (PG&E) invoices and say, ‘We’re doing well on this.’”
Benza, the church’s resource ministries director, said the $1.1 million SunLogic installation generates approximately 85 percent of the facility’s power on 5,850 square feet of panels.
When accounting for the initial investment, it could be close to a decade before the Christian church on Magdalena Avenue realizes savings, according to Benza. But he added that the move would eventually save the church $1.3 million in utility bills during years 11 through 25.
And all the while, he’ll be tracking it with a program on his laptop.
Estimates show the church has generated the equivalent of running 249 60-watt light bulbs for a year, and saved 31 tons of CO2, which equates to approximately 787 trees, according to the church’s data.
Zach Dahl, a city planner for Los Altos, said it appears Bridges’ solar installation is the largest in the city, though upcoming projects like the David and Lucile Packard Foundation headquarters could dethrone the church’s efforts.
“We don’t really have a ranking” of solar-project sizes, Dahl said. “A vast majority of solar projects are residential.”
Benza, a New York transplant, first approached his church’s board of directors in early 2000, but the technology “wasn’t as proven” at the time, he said. He added that he became interested in solar during his IBM days in the 1980s, and, for non-profits, installing solar is a “no-brainer.”
“With the advancements of technology in the past decade and the increase in the number of financial solutions available, non-profits can easily participate in solar projects without the past burden of large capital outlays,” he said.
Benza said he has contacted EcoTality, a San Francisco-based electric vehicle charging station company, to solicit interest in installing a few charging stations at the church. That, he said, is part of being “plugged into the community.”
http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25752&Itemid=46
To view Bridges’ live energy data, visit live.deckmonitoring.com/?id=bridges_community_church.
1 Comment
1"Administrator"
at Thursday, 23 June 2011 20:46by Joseph
Brilliant! They should send that guy to Hawaii as a thank-you gift. ;-^
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