Happy Earth Day!
During the children’s message on April 19, children taught us about the power and potential of solar energy. The church’s 117 solar panels should be running this week. With the help of Ron Offutt, the children shared the following facts:
- Our sun is so big that one million Earths will fit inside it.
- Our sun is a star.
- There are 400 billion stars . . . or suns . . . in our Milky Way galaxy, and our universe holds 100 billion galaxies.
- In two and one-half seconds the sun provides enough solar energy to meet all of mankind’s electrical needs across the globe for 24 hours.
- Today, we have 117 solar panels installed on our Parish House roof. And this week, we plan to begin using the energy collected from the sun by those panels to meet all the church’s electrical needs.
- Solar energy is clean energy.
- Each year the energy collected from the sun by our 117 solar panels will eliminate 48,000 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere, which is equal to burning 23,000 pounds of coal, or driving a car 52,000 miles, or consuming 50 barrels of oil, or 2500 gallons of gasoline.
- The clean energy produced by our solar panels is equal to replacing seven gas burning cars with seven electric cars.
- The clean energy produced by our solar panels will free up 18 acres (or 14 football fields) to now drink someone else’s carbon fumes.
- Covering 8% of sunny Arizona with solar panels would create enough energy to meet all of our nation’s current electrical needs.
- One big job of our solar panels is to change the stiff, but happy, Direct Current from the sun into the type of energy we need in our homes, offices, and this church, Alternating Current.
Shared by Laurie Bleickardt, Acting Christian Education Coordinator
