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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Opportunities Abound 'Under the Sun' for Houses of Worship

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Thursday, April 6, 2023   

A new report by a prominent national research center said America's houses of worship lag in alternative energy investment.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found fewer than 2% have installed photo-voltaic energy systems, partly because of cost. Investing in solar energy can be expensive on the front end. But with the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, 30% of those costs will be covered for some nonprofits and churches.

MJ Noethe, advocacy program associate for Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, said they did not have access to these incentives before the Inflation Reduction Act.

"We haven't seen that before, and while it won't cover total costs, it will reduce them," Noethe explained. "Which can especially help in rural communities where there really aren't that many opportunities."

The Berkeley report pointed out about 10% of Iowa's houses of worship currently invest in solar energy, a number Noethe noted will increase as a result of the federal incentives. Nationwide, the report showed more than 2,500 houses of worship use solar power, or just under 2% of the total.

Noethe added investing in solar gives parishioners the chance to share a common financial goal for their church, which could make an even bigger impact than equipping individual homes.

"Churches and houses of worship, those are always places where the community can come together," Noethe emphasized. "It's great providing solar for individual homes, but having community-based spaces where we can provide solar and other renewable energy sources is a really big deal."

The Berkeley Lab report found churches, mosques and synagogues represent only about 0.5% of all non-residential, solar-powered buildings in the nation, which leaves a lot of room for growth.


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