The Vatican Goes Solar

The installation of 2,700 solar panels atop the Vatican this week will make Pope Benedict XVI the first pontiff to switch to solar power. The photovoltaic cells will convert sunlight into enough power to heat or cool a 6,000-seat auditorium where the pope holds his weekly meeting with pilgrims and visitors, according to a BBC report. “With this plant, if it is working, in about two weeks we avoid 200 tons of carbon dioxide,” Andre Koekenhoff, a project worker, said, “and this is the equivalent to 70 tons of oil.” Pope Benedict, who once said that “environmental degradation makes poor people’s existence intolerable,” has turned resource conservation into a cause since he was elected in 2005. Solar World, a German-based company, donated the panels, which are worth $1.5 million.