church charges up

On Wednesday I went to the Tecoma Uniting Church’s 'switch on' solar power system. Motivated by church member, Brian Broughton, the church has installed a 5.1kw solar panel system. The church is hopeful that there will be enough electricity generated by the system to feed excess energy back into the grid.

At the Switch On, church Minister, Reverend Mike Esbensen, talked about the Hebrew definition of community, which encompasses people, water, earth and the sun and how the installation of the panels fitted well into this definition.

Me pictured with Reverend Di Esbensen, Brian Broughton and Reverend Mike Esbensen in front of the solar panel interpretive display. The panel indicates how much power is being generated in real time, total power generation for the day and since installation.

The Tecoma Primary School choir provided some wonderful singing on the day whilst the Belgrave Heights Christian School did a terrific job with the catering.

Their next plans are to install two 22,000 litre water tanks and explore the possibility of a community garden.The church is a great example to others and has a real commitment to sustainability and treading lightly on the earth.