January 20th 2011
The original designers of First United Methodist Church in Great Falls, built in 1955, most likely weren't planning for the building to one day be heated by solar power. But they might as well have. "The building is like it was designed for it (solar heat)," solar engineer Ken Thornton said. Officials at First United Methodist Church, located at 610 2nd Ave. N., are planning to take advantage of that design and retrofit the building to be heated by the sun's rays. The solar heating project will likely take two or three phases, Thornton said. The first phase, with a price tag of $40,000, will involve converting the church's sanctuary to solar heat. The sanctuary was originally built with in-floor radiant heat, meaning the pipes in the concrete floor carry hot water, which heats the large room. For the past 55 years, that water was heated by a boiler. Soon it will be heated by the sun. Instead of passing through the boiler, the water will pass through solar panels mounted on the church's south-facing roof ? another reason the building is ideally suited for solar heat. Because the in-floor radiant heat system is already in place, it will be fairly easy to convert the sanctuary to solar heat. "It makes it a lot easier," Thornton said. With a normal hot water heating system, a boiler has to heat the water to more than 160 degrees in order to heat the building. With in-floor radiant heat, the water only has to be heated to 110 to 120 degrees, a temperature easily reached through solar power, Thornton said. The congregation plans to eventually heat most of the church using solar power. Those later phases will be more involved and more expensive since only the sanctuary has in-floor heat. Thornton estimates it will cost about $100,000 to get 70 percent of the building retrofitted with solar heat. Construction on the first phase of the project is set to begin as soon as weather permits. Thornton, who belongs to First United Methodist, said he has long thought the church could take advantage of its design and convert to solar heat. "It always struck me that it fits in there really nicely," he said. Last year, on Earth Day, Thornton gave a presentation on solar heat at the church. That inspired another parishioner to begin a fundraiser to make Thornton's vision a reality. The church congregation has since raised about $40,000 so it can complete the first phase. "Now we have the money to start the project," Thornton said. Timing of subsequent phases will depend on fundraising. Additionally, any money the church saves on its gas heat bill by converting to solar power will go toward the project. Source: greatfallstribune.com - 20/01/2011
|
