HOLY SOLAR!

Always suspected we were on the Almighty's side...

Vatican Installs Solar Panels
Leah Krauss,May 31, 2007 (UPI)
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WHO
Pope Benedict XVI, Pier Carlo Cuscianna, department of technical services head, Vatican

WHAT
The Vatican is installing a solar array to power heating, cooling and lighting systems.

WHEN
The solar array is expected to be in service in time for this summer’s predicted sweltering temperatures in the surrounding country of Italy.

WHERE
The Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City

WHY
- The installation, part of a roof repair project, is expected to pay for itself in a few years by powering a building which consumes a lot of energy.
- 1000 panels, channeling excess to the Vatican City grid. The cost was not made public.
- Pope Benedict XVI voiced support of alternative energy at the World Day of Peace and supported a worldwide auto boycott. The Vatican has used low-impact light bulbs since 1999.
The Paul VI Audience Hall
QUOTES
- Cuscianna: "The Paul VI hall was chosen first for a number of reasons: Cooling and heating the large audience hall makes it one of the top energy guzzlers in the Vatican, and its roof was in need of repair…"
- Pope Benedict XVI: "The increasingly serious problem of energy supplies (is leading to) an unprecedented race for the Earth's resources…”
- Pope Benedict XVI: “The United States of America is using an obscene 22 million barrels of oil per day, 12 million barrels of which are imported from Saudi Arabia…Four years ago, the United States invaded Iraq to capture the Middle East's oil. No other country uses even 2 million barrels of oil per day. It is the burning of these fossil fuels which is causing the global warming catastrophe now upon us…