GIPL's Power Award Winner - St. Gregory the Great

The 2012 GIPL Power Award was given to St Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia at this month’s Seventh Annual GIPPYs. You may remember this winner from last year, as they received one of our Trailblazer awards for 2011 because of all of the amazing things they did to incorporate new and interesting ways to recycle using Terracycle and other avenues. This year they won the Power Award for their excellence in embracing renewable energy as well as energy efficiency. St. Gregory’s became the fourth church in Georgia to install a Solar Photo Voltaic system to generate electricity for their congregation.They installed a 7.5 Kilowatt Photo Voltaic Installation which as of January generated enough electricity to power almost 200 homes for a day or enough energy to power 42 computers for a year. This has also saved the church over $1,000 on their electric utility bills since June compared to the same period in 2011. Even though the array is saving them money, the main purpose of their solar installation, is to make the church a better steward of the environment. The panels themselves are a powerful witness to the Athens community.Congratulations to St. Gregory the Great and their commitment to creation care. We now wonder what they’ll be up to that will put them in the running for another GIPPY in 2013!