{"id":11470,"date":"2011-04-29T11:59:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=11470"},"modified":"2011-04-29T11:59:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:59:44","slug":"solar-building-mormons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/solar-building-mormons\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormons Open Second Solar Building"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The new solar-powered meetinghouse in Mesa, Arizona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a post for SUNfiltered on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ first solar-powered meetinghouse in Farmington, Utah<\/a>. That experiment apparently went so well that the Church decided to continue down this path: another meetinghouse built to green standards<\/a> just opened in Mesa, Arizona.<\/p>\n

Mormons building green? Aren’t they a particularly conservative lot? Well, yes… but not only does the Church have a fairly long history of applying conservation principles to their buildings<\/a>, but they also recognize that efficient building standards and renewable power mean long-term cost savings. The Farmington meetinghouse, for instance, produced $5000 in utility savings in its first year. Jared Doxey, director of architecture, engineering and construction for the Church, believes that the savings trend will continue:\u00a0“As the price of solar goes down, which it\u2019s projected to continue to go down, and as utility rates continue to go up, the viability of solar will become stronger and stronger… It’s definitely is a technology we will be using in the future.”<\/p>\n

The New Solar-Powered Building: The Details<\/h2>\n
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Solar panels on the Mesa meetinghouse roof<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mesa meetinghouse is the second of three prototypes, and represents some changes to traditional church architecture in order to accommodate green technology features. For instance, there are no sharply sloped roofs; rather, designers used a low-slope (which appears flat) to keep solar panels out of sight. The building also features a rubber membrane white roof that Doxey claims reduces heat gain by 85%. Other green features include:<\/p>\n