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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has completed its second solar-powered meetinghouse in the country.
One year ago, the church unveiled its first such building in Farmington, Utah. The new building is located in Mesa, Ariz.
Both buildings are a prototype that uses the sun's energy to produce as much electricity as the building consumes in a year.
It definitely is a technology we will be using in the future.
–Jared Doxey, church director of architecture, engineering and construction
The church says over the past year the building in Farmington has saved nearly $5,000 in utility costs, mostly from the system that converts solar radiation into direct electrical current.
"As the price of solar goes down, which it's projected to continue to go down, and as utility rates continue to go up, the viability of solar will become stronger and stronger," said Jared Doxey, director of architecture, engineering and construction for the Church, in a news release. "It definitely is a technology we will be using in the future."
The new building is also a departure from the Church's sloped-roof design that has been a mainstay for more than 30 years. The Mesa meetinghouse appears to have a flat roof, but it's really a low-sloped roof design that allows proper drainage (as opposed to flat roofs) and hides solar panels from view. A highly-reflective rubber membrane covers the roof.
"We wanted a white reflected roof membrane that would radiate heat away from the building," Doxey said. "The specified roofing material [on the Mesa meetinghouse] reduces the heat gain by about 85 percent compared to a dark asphalt roof. We wanted to see the impact of that on the air conditioning in terms of reduced utility cost."
- First implemented in 1998
- Sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council
- Nationally accepted standard for design, construction and operation of environmentally friendly buildings
- Register the project with the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI)
- Fill out two-part application, with the first stage focused on design and the second focused on construction
- Project team receives guidance from GBCI and has an opportunity to clarify or modify the documentation and resubmit
- Construction submittal reviewed twice by independent evaluation teams at GBCI
- Final certification ruling is issued
Other energy-saving measures include:
- Windows that block 78 percent of the sun's heat energy
- Improved insulation on the outside walls and roof
- High efficiency furnaces equipped with variable speed motors
- Lighting that is 20 percent more efficient
- Automatic light switches that turn off when rooms are not occupied
- Landscaping that uses drought-tolerant plants
- Underground sensors that determine when the grounds need water and save 50 percent more water than previous designs
A monitoring system diagnoses problems and sends trouble alerts by email.
Like the building in Farmington, the Mesa meetinghouse is on track to earn the construction industry's LEED Silver Certificate. The achievement demonstrates a proactive effort to reduce energy, waste and water usage while providing an environmentally friendly, cost efficient building.
E-mail: lwilliams@ksl.com
