Congregation Beth David has a secret it wants everyone to know about.
Through a contract with SolarCity, a leading solar provider based in Foster City, the Saratoga synagogue has installed inconspicuous solar panels on its roof as it embarks on an ambitious plan to reduce its carbon footprint — and its energy costs.
Corporations have been hopping on the renewable energy bandwagon for some time, but Beth David’s case represents the marriage of the two sides of the environmental revolution — financial and spiritual.
By working with SolarCity and entering into a Power Purchase Agreement, Beth David discovered that a lack of capital is not a roadblock to going green.
While installing solar panels represents a large investment most nonprofits cannot afford to take, the PPA provides a near risk-free way to do so. The system Beth David had installed costs around $700,000, a prohibitive amount for the synagogue.
Through the contract with SolarCity, Beth David avoided the up-front costs. “It’s a great thing, especially for synagogues like us, which have limited budgets,” said Beth David office manager Tanya Lorien.
“PPA is essentially we, SolarCity, own the system that is on their rooftop,” said David Arfin, the vice president of strategy for the company. “Our agreement with them is that we will generate electricity. We will sell them electricity that comes off their rooftop at an agreed upon price over 15 years. They were able to substitute the clean power of using solar for whatever mix of sources PG&E uses.”
Beth David had to take two precautions to ensure the system would be economically viable. The first was making sure they wouldn’t be overpaying for energy. “We sized the system to be smaller than our demand,” said Jene Tenberg, a member of Beth David and one of the forces behind the installations. “That’s the way to ensure you don’t buy energy you don’t need.”
The second was predicting the energy market. “When you’re making a decision to put solar in, you’re making a decision what’s going to happen to utility rates,” Tenberg said. “We decided the rates were going to increase.”
SolarCity installed the panels, which are visible only from one small interior courtyard in the synagogue. The company worked around the Jewish holidays so as not to interfere with any services.
The solar panels are the biggest step in Beth David’s efforts to go green, but they are not the first. The synagogue already was using soy-based candles and biodegradable bags for trash and recycling.
“Judaism in general tries to preach general responsibility, and one of those is to the environment,” Tenberg said. “Judaism really tries to take a strong position on influencing children in a good way. [The solar panels are] a good example of that.”
While the cost-benefit analysis will not be ready until January, Beth David leaders agree the solar panels have been an unequivocal success. The question now is how to expand the renewable energy movement throughout the area.
“I would love to see the community come together and knowledge share about this,” Arfin said. “Half of what has to happen in this process is an educational process. It would be really neat if the community came together and said, let’s educate ourselves collectively about what we can do.
“I think a synagogue or a church or a city hall looks better and looks more responsible and more mission-oriented if they’re making the statement that renewable energy is important to all of us.”