CALIFORNIA: Grace Cathedral set to become solar powered

July 21, 2008 [Episcopal News Service] Continuing to make strides in environmental care, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California recently received a donation from PG&E toward the installation of a new solar photovoltaic system.

Solar photovoltaic systems use solar panels made of silicon to convert sunlight into electricity.

The announcement was made on July 16 by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Rev. Alan Jones, dean of Grace, representatives from PG&E and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

In a public ceremony held on the cathedral’s Great Steps, Newsom told those gathered that because Grace is nonprofit, it also qualifies for thousands of dollars from San Francisco’s new solar energy incentive program GoSolarSF, which launched July 1.

GoSolarSF, coupled with federal tax credits and the California Solar Initiative – a rebate program sponsored by the State of California – could pay half the cost or more of a solar power system installed in San Francisco.

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, president of the California Interfaith Power and Light of which Grace Cathedral is a member, is credited with joining PG&E and the cathedral together.