Tweet
SOLAR LIGHTS ANCIENT ARMENIAN CHURCH
Pete Danko
EarthTechling
http://www.earthtechling.com/2010/11/solar-lights-ancient-armenian-church/
Nov 9 2010
The 1,000-year-old Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross, on the Turk
island of Akdamar, is a place of worship once more - largely due
to the Turkish desire to heal ancient religious and ethnic wounds,
but in part thanks to solar power.
A cultural landmark on the island in Lake Van, the Armenian Cathedral
hadn't held services since the early 1900s, when ethnic cleansing led
to the destruction of most Armenian churches in eastern Turkey. It
was restored in 2006 and opened as a museum in 2007. Diesel powered
the lighting for the museum, but only for three hours a day, and at
the prohibitive cost of 25,000 Euros a year.
But the solar potential for the site was obvious: the surrounding
province has among the highest sunlight values in Turkey. "In
combination with the cool island climate, the location offers ideal
conditions for the operation of a solar-power generating system,"
the Japanese solar company Kyocera, which did the installation,
said in a press release.
With the solar system in place - providing on the order of 25,000
kilowatt hours per year - the Turkish government granted permission
to hold services at the cathedral every year, an event the Financial
Times said symbolized "Turkish efforts to overcome its troubled
history with ethnic and religious minorities."
From: A. Papazian
Pete Danko
EarthTechling
http://www.earthtechling.com/2010/11/solar-lights-ancient-armenian-church/
Nov 9 2010
The 1,000-year-old Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross, on the Turk
island of Akdamar, is a place of worship once more - largely due
to the Turkish desire to heal ancient religious and ethnic wounds,
but in part thanks to solar power.
A cultural landmark on the island in Lake Van, the Armenian Cathedral
hadn't held services since the early 1900s, when ethnic cleansing led
to the destruction of most Armenian churches in eastern Turkey. It
was restored in 2006 and opened as a museum in 2007. Diesel powered
the lighting for the museum, but only for three hours a day, and at
the prohibitive cost of 25,000 Euros a year.
But the solar potential for the site was obvious: the surrounding
province has among the highest sunlight values in Turkey. "In
combination with the cool island climate, the location offers ideal
conditions for the operation of a solar-power generating system,"
the Japanese solar company Kyocera, which did the installation,
said in a press release.
With the solar system in place - providing on the order of 25,000
kilowatt hours per year - the Turkish government granted permission
to hold services at the cathedral every year, an event the Financial
Times said symbolized "Turkish efforts to overcome its troubled
history with ethnic and religious minorities."
From: A. Papazian