The biblical command “Let there be light!” will have a different but
green meaning for parishioners of the Holy Family Catholic Church in
Saskatoon.
The house of worship is renovating and embedding solar cells
on its new stained glass windows.
The glass windows, being made by Sarah Hall Studio Solar Windows, will
be installed in spring.
It will be the first church in North America to
tap solar energy to provide electricity to the edifice.
The church
apparently has taken its cue from the Vatican, which installed 2,700
solar panels in 2008.
Stained glass artist Sarah Hall used 54
panels to create three large sections showing the prairie sky.
The
church decided to tap the sun’s rays because Saskatoon enjoys an average
of 2,381 hours of sunshine yearly. It is the highest among Canadian
cities.
The glass enamels are air-brushed at the Glasmalerei
Peters in Paderborn, Germany, and tempered at Wulfmeier. The 1,013
silver solar cells are soldered by hand.
Jim Nakoneshny, chair
of the cathedral building committee, said that by incorporating
energy-collecting methods, sustainability can be achieved without the
photovoltaic cells becoming an ugly feature of the church.
The
parish spent $675,000 for the projects, which came from donations.
The
project manager said the solar cells will collect energy sufficient to
power five homes for 12 months.