N.C. Church Takes a Defiant Stand—With Solar Panels [View all]
In a rare state that does not allow third-party electricity generation, a Greensboro church bucks Duke Energy and state law to embrace clean energy.
By Zahra Hirji, InsideClimate News
A jovial ribbon-cutting ceremony at a small red brick church in Greensboro, the third-largest city in North Carolina, was something of a masquerade. It was really a bold stance for environmental justice.
The solar panels gleaming on the roof of Faith Community Church are meant to generate power—and controversy—because they defy a state law prohibiting anyone besides major utility companies from selling electricity. It's not an outright ban on consumer solar panels, but it's close. And it's backed by the energy giant Duke Energy.
The church in partnership with a local environmental social justice group, the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, NC WARN, wants to change that.
"This giant monopoly...should not be entitled to the energy from the sun, which God has given to all of us," said Rev. Nelson Johnson, senior pastor at the Greensboro church. Johnson, a North Carolina native, is known across the state for decades of work on social and economic justice issues.
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http://insideclimatenews.com/news/30062015/north-carolina-church-takes-defiant-stand-solar-panels-distributed-solar-leasing-duke-energy
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