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Solar Power Moves Desert Monastery into Cyberspace ABIQUIU, New Mexico, January 21, 2002 (ENS) - A Benedictine monastery completely powered by the Sun is the largest private solar energy installation in New Mexico. The brothers are using the Sun's rays to power computers on which they design the website for the Vatican.
Christ in the Desert monastery was constructed 32 years ago in the rugged Chama Canyon of northern New Mexico near Abiquiui, a gathering place of tribal people for centuries, made famous as the location where painter Georgia O'Keefe lived and worked. When the monsastery's head Abbot Philip, came to Christ in the Desert in the mid-1970s, there were but three monks. "We had only wood-burning stoves for heat, and kerosene lamps for light," he recalls. "The nearest electric grid lay 13 miles away, but it may have well been on the moon. Given the rough terrain, it would have cost $1.1 million just to connect us. Impossible!" Ten years ago, the monastery received a single lightbulb powered by solar energy, a gift that signaled the possibility of affordable electricity for the community. The population of the community now ranges between 25 and 30. By 1996 the twelve "life-committed" monks needed to qualify a Benedictine monastery as an abbey were in residence. All were crammed into or around the facility built for eight. Insurance costs were rising because the monastery burned wood and kerosene for heat. To overcome these problems the Brothers decided to spend $3.5 million to renovate and expand the monastery. "Frankly, the figure staggers us," says Abbot Philip. "When one builds in such a remote location, everything costs a mint. But the possibility of sustainable living inspired us to try." Building materials were chosen to save money - thermally efficient straw bales for most exterior walls, recycled newspapers for ceilings, wood from standing dead timber, and radiant energy heat pipes set in the floor in sand, with bricks on top for easy repair. Brother Aquinas, a computer expert with a degree in engineering, came up with an idea to raise the money to renovate and expand the monastery. The monks, whose order dates back to the 6th century, could take up one of the world's newest vocations - designing sites for the World Wide Web. "Few of us even knew what a home page or a website was," Abbot Philip recalls, "but we had faith in the idea - and ordered our first computers."
The brothers assigned to the computer project created Christ in the Desert in cyberspace where visitors can visit the chapel, listen to a Gregorian chant, make reservations for the guest house, purchase items from the gift shop, learn where to send donations and place prayer requests. Attracting attention near and far, the brothers' work on their solar powered computers has led to orders for websites from several corporations and other groups, including the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation. To meet the monastery's growing need for electricity, Direct Power & Water, a solar energy systems integrator in New Mexico, initially designed and installed a 3.6 kilowatt system made up of four Siemens Solar 12 module arrays. But with its new assignment from the Vatican, Christ in the Desert has now doubled its solar power, increasing capacity to 7.2 kilowatts. "We have eight arrays, each mounted on a tracker that follows the sun as it moves across the sky," Abbot Philip explains. "This maximizes energy and provides reserves we can store for use at night and during inclement weather." Besides lighting the chapel and main building, solar power is running all the computers and cellular phones, and the kitchen appliances, including four huge refrigerators. It is also powering the tools needed for construction - from air compressors to concrete mixers. Soon it will power the pumps that will provide a complete water system, with radiant heating in the winter, and a wetlands system to purify wastewater. The monastery's sustainable building program has inspired other monastic communities in Africa, Asia and South America, where the need for solar power is acute. An active correspondence has developed between the monastery and a number of remote Benedictine communities interested in water purification, wetlands systems and the protection of dwindling resources. "Part of the mystique of our monastery is that brothers come from all over the world to study with us," Abbot Philip says. "We hope that other interested people will visit as well. Sustainability and diversity are both important to our community, because we believe they represent the future." Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
Christ
in the Desert Benedictine monastery (Photo courtesy
Solar panels at Christ
in the Desert (Photo courtesy Siemens Solar)