“At first you look at it five times a day, then five times a week, then five times a month, then five times a year, and eventually you forget that it’s there – except for the monthly check in the mail, which is nice.”
So says homeowner Richard Reesor of Stouffville, Ontario speaking of the solar energy system on the roof of his house that he installed two years ago.
He was speaking to a roomful of community members and solar energy industry representatives gathered at Parkview Village in Stouffville.
Reesor’s testimonial was part of a solar energy information night; the second in a series of five organized by Mennonite Central Committee Ontario (MCCO).
MCCO’s recent renewed campaign for solar energy awareness coincides with Ontario’s Green Energy and Economy Act passed in September of 2009 which made “going green” suddenly financially attractive.
As part of the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program, people who install solar energy systems are paid 80.2 cents per kiloWatt hour, guaranteed for twenty years.
For Reesor, this means an annual revenue of approximately $2,500 from his fourteen-panel, 2.52 kW system and a payback period of eight years on the initial $20,000 purchase cost.
“The projected estimates were right on”, he says.
But the fundamental reason for MCCO’s push for renewable energy projects is what MCCO’s Creation Care co-ordinator, Darren Kropf calls our “theological call” to care for the environment.
“We have a responsibility as Christians and as part of God’s creation to tread lightly on the earth for the sake of not just our natural environment, but also our global neighbours”.
He points out that investing in renewable energy is something that directly affects MCC’s relief and development work around the world.
“Everybody knows the old saying, “Give people a fish, they eat for a day; teach them how to fish, they have food for a lifetime.
But let’s also ask: ‘Is anyone polluting the lake?’”
Geralde Reesor-Grooters of Community Mennonite Church of Stouffville agrees with Kropf and adds that North America has a long way to go in utilizing renewable energy sources.
“In Holland where I grew up in the seventies, being energy conscious was just second nature.”
She goes on to say that “in Canada, I often hear people say that because they can afford to run their air conditioner 24-7, it justifies their energy use, which doesn’t make any sense to me!”
Reesor-Grooters and her husband Terry recently installed a 9kW system on their farm and hope they can use that opportunity to teach their three young children to lead lives that are harmonious with creation.
OSEA was instrumental in the passage of the Green Energy and Economy Act and encourages entire communities, not just individual households, to pool resources to maximize the benefits.
Mennonite Central Committee would like to see more churches going solar, says Darren Kropf.
“We have one church so far, Hillcrest Mennonite in New Hamburg, who is committed to installing solar panels and we hope their example and these information sessions can encourage other churches to get thinking about it, too.”
So far, it seems to be working.
Margie Hoover of Wideman Mennonite Church says that though they are still in the early preliminary stages of researching, she is hoping that it becomes a reality at her church.
Pieter Niemeyer, pastor of Rouge Valley Mennonite Church concluded at the end of the night that though there were probably varying motives for attending, the information sessions had done their job in creating awareness and piquing people’s curiosity.
“I think this [series of sessions by MCC] will breathe new life into the discussion and hopefully get more churches thinking about going solar.”
Ultimately, the solar initiative is part of a greater responsibility to live our lives faithfully as part of God’s Creation, says Kropf.
“Creation is valued by God and we are called to care for it in life-giving ways”.
