Solar-powered church

Lidgate, Great Britain

A church in England plans to become one of the first medieval churches in the country to install solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system as part of an environmental plan.

The panels, costing £12,000 ($24,000 Cdn), will be installed on the tower of St. Mary’s church, a 13th-century structure, but will be hidden behind a parapet and not visible from ground level, according to an article in the Bury Free Press weekly newspaper. They will generate electricity, which will be sold to the national electricity grid and then bought back as the need arises.

There will also be a disabled-accessible washroom and kitchen facilities in the tower. A rainwater harvesting system, costing £30,000 ($61,000 Cdn), will provide water for the washroom.