Houses of worship encourage town to go solar

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Three Bloomfield houses of worship addressed the mayor and council Monday night, Sept. 25, to express their concern with the need for the township to install solar panels.

Representatives in attendance were from Temple Ner Tamid, the Brookdale Reformed Church and Park United Methodist Church. All three facilities have installed solar paneling but each speaker said it was not the bottom line that made them mitigate their reliance on fossil fuel but instead the greater good to help preserve the Earth.

Lorrie Abrams said Temple Ner Tamid was prompted by an organization called Green Faith. Green Faith is an interfaith partnership advocating a healthy environment. The temple was apparently the first of the houses of worship to install solar panels. They did this in 2006. The churches have installed their panels within the past couple of years.

Abrams said Green Faith contacted Sun Farms, a solar provider, which determined that the sloping roofs of the temple were not compatible with solar panels. Panels were then installed on the flat roofs.

Pastor Susan Dorward, of the Brookdale Reformed Church, said her church has saved $10,000 since its installation in January 2016.
“I am urging the town to go solar for future generations,” she said.

The Rev. Joel Hubbard, of Park United Methodist Church, told the council that he wanted to expand on what his colleagues said in order to encourage the council. His church, he said, began considering solar panels in 2014 and realized they did not have the capital.
“We were able to use a purchasing agreement and installed a utility,” he said.

The church agreed to let a solar panel company use its roof. The church pays the company, SunVest Solar, for its electricity. The agreement is for 20 years. The company installs, owns, repairs and replaces the panels.

Hubbard said part of the thinking for his church to go solar was the issue of justice.
“Sometimes you have to sacrifice,” he said. “The installation hasn’t impacted our bottom line but it has taken us off the electric grid and given us an independence. It is an investment in our children and neighborhoods.”

He said the church has a tracking system that displays data to show how many trees are being saved by the panels. He said this is an important part of going solar because it gives people hope.

“We can talk about worst-case scenarios at the church but we talk in terms of hope,” Hubbard said.
Others besides religions leaders spoke as advocates of solar energy.

Michael Palmieri, a member of the Bloomfield Planning Board, asked the council to consider having a company do a feasibility study for putting panels on municipal buildings. Heather Nolan, of the environmental group, Greener Bloomfield, suggested making solar energy part of the school curriculum.

Trish Comstock, a Bloomfield resident who was a strong supporter of rent control when it was an issue several years ago, made an appearance after a lengthy absence from the council chambers.

“You have the opportunity of going on record as a forward-looking council,” she said. “It’s win-win. You save money and it’s ready to be installed. I don’t understand that people don’t connect what we’re doing with fossil fuel and global warming.”

Bloomfield resident Jane Califf said she has been involved with a lot of movements to help society and started a Bloomfield recycling committee before it was officially founded. She said she refused to sit by if the township did not address alternate energy sources. She commended the township for applying for a $10,000 grant for a solar parking canopy in the Town Hall parking lot but said more had to be done.

Califf was referencing an application for a Sustainable Jersey grant to design a Solar Panel and Electric Vehicle Charging facility. If the grant is successful, the township would then use a Purchase Power Agreement to have the facility built. A PPA is a funding device whereby a company builds the structure in return for the energy it generates. The energy may then be sold, presumably at a discount, to the host municipality.
Mayor Michael Venezia said he was looking forward to working with the residents. Following the council meeting, Councilwoman Wartyna Davis said a feasibility study is something the township should definitely consider.

“It’s progressive,” she said. “We’re a community-conscious council.”
Councilman Ted Gamble agreed with Venezia and said he was looking forward to working with residents and it was important to determine if older municipal buildings could support solar panels. Councilwoman Jenny Mundell said she was totally behind finding ways to use green energy but that Township Administrator Matt Watkins would be the person to comment on when the council should consider a feasibility report.
Venezia said, regarding a feasibility report, that the township was still in the process of determining what it needs to do.

“Matt’s been working on it,” he said.
Venezia said if the township does not get the Sustainable Jersey grant, it would consider the project on its own.
In a statement from Watkins provided by Vision Media Marketing, which conducts public relations services for the township, Watkins said that Bloomfield was committed to green energy and building out our solar infrastructure.

“This is why we are so enthusiastic about the plan we are pursuing to build solar canopies and electric-vehicle recharging stations around the municipal complex. We believe that this is the best current opportunity to not only reduce our energy usage and costs, but also to make Bloomfield a destination for electric-vehicle motorists which would generate additional revenue and help our small business community. While this is our focus presently, as the plan moves forward, we will certainly look at additional opportunities to add more solar panels and pursue other clean-energy initiatives.”

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