St Paul’s Cathedral has gone green by putting further steps in place to develop its sustainability program. After eighteen months of planning and testing a new LED lightglobe, the Cathedral has introduced sustainable lights throughout St Paul’s.
The new lights will be formally launched by the Archbishop and Dean, in the presence of the Deputy Lord Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, on Friday 26 June 2015 at 2.00pm. The costs for this project have been met in part by funds raised at last year’s Fiat lux Cathedral Dinner, and by a ‘Sustainable landmarks’ grant from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation.
The new globes have cut the Cathedral’s carbon emissions by a third: the new lights have reduced the Cathedral’s energy output from 100 watts per globe to 14.5 watts per globe while retaining the same level of light output (or lumens) and the same warm colour. St Paul’s anticipates a lifespan of between five to seven years for each light globe, which means an overall reduction in maintenance costs. The globes use far lower energy outputs which has led to an overall reduction in the Cathedral’s carbon footprint by 30%.
Archbishop Philip Freier said: “We have many things that we can do at a local level to reduce the amount of energy we consume and the amount of carbon emissions we produce. It is a pleasure to see such leadership from St Paul’s Cathedral. It might sound like a simple thing to replace all incandescent bulbs with LED lighting, but it makes a big difference. Thank you for your partnership in ensuring that this heritage icon in the heart of the city of Melbourne makes both a statement and a contribution towards our joint efforts in reducing the carbon footprint. Let’s move together along the road to sustainable progress.”
Dean Andreas Loewe said: “I am very thankful indeed to our supporters at St Paul’s and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, who have enabled us to introduce these important sustainability measures, and to make sure that we can be a ‘green’ Cathedral and a model to other churches. Thank you for helping us to conserve our environment and so help save our planet.”
St Paul’s is hoping to assist other landmark buildings in the City of Melbourne and churches in the Diocese of Melbourne to go green by reducing their carbon footprint. Dean Andreas explained: “We are delighted to be able advise other instutions how to implement energy efficiencies by replacing their current lights with new lower energy lights. In this way, we can all conserve energy and resources, and together can make a significant contribution to preserving God’s creation.”
Image: Archbishop Freier and Dean Loewe with three of the old lights replaced by a single energy efficient light. View hi-res copies here: http://bit.ly/ledlaunch.