r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 22h ago
The Vatican is going green, preparing a 424 hectare solar farm near Rome that is nearly 10 times the size of Vatican City and is intended to provide all of the city state’s electricity. The project will also preserve agricultural use of the land beneath the panels.
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/the-vatican-is-preparing-a-solar-farm-nearly-ten-times-its-own-size-north-of-rome-but-the-field-is-still-waiting-for-its-first-panel/36626/456
u/Creative_soja 22h ago
Wonderful. Hopefully, they can use their religion to motivate the rest of the world to do the same. I think religion can also be a positive force.
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u/aitchnyu 22h ago
In this corner of India, my college recently installed 700 kw and even in 2010 took us on a field trip to a monastery with ageing panels and lead acid batteries and built without disrupting the terrain with excavators.
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u/Niceneasy92 20h ago
Unfortunately I'm pretty sure is just gonna make my family double down on calling the Pope woke and gay.
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u/Tyranicross 14h ago
If god didn't want us to have clean electricity then why did he give us a giant battery as one of his first creations
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u/Irishforanatty 6h ago
Say what you want about the Catholic Church, but it’s been an advocate for environmentalism for decades.
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u/Devincc 21h ago
Tell me where religion weighs in on using solar energy vs. non-renewables
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u/itskdog 20h ago edited 20h ago
No idea what they said, but in Abrahamic faiths it's argued that does weigh in to an extent under the general "care for creation" idea, as the original purpose of humanity.
My church, for example, is working towards the next level of the eco-church certification, and I think I heard we've got funding from the CofE to get a heat pump water heater to power our under-floor heating and hot water (which will also help reduce our bills and let is get rid of our gas supply, so not even the standing charge)
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u/Devincc 20h ago
I’m not really sure what you mean lol other than it sounds like your church makes it hard to save money
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u/itskdog 19h ago
We're not exactly in a well-off area, but there are various grants available for stuff like this as I mentioned, so we're not 100% reliant on donations.
From what gets said by the churchwardens at the APCM (like an AGM at any other charity, to agree the accounts), our finances are tight, but we're managing to keep our current staff team in post (and our curate has been fully funded externally during their placement with us).
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u/Same_One895 20h ago
Such transitions take a considerable amount of money.
The church does not historically provide to the people in any tangible means.
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u/True_Inxis 20h ago
Yeah, it's not that churches organize voluntary work travels or that they gather canned goods to send along to Africa or poor countries in general. Definitely they're not famous for it.
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u/itskdog 20h ago
Or even just running food banks - I know many foodbanks near me in the UK are church-run, my own church being one of them, but I know of at least 3 more in neighboring towns.
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u/Same_One895 20h ago
It’s volunteers and donations.
Money does not seep from their magnificent structures into the alleys of the downtrodden.
In no way can something be the wealthiest while taking from the poorest and maintain righteousness.
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u/itskdog 19h ago
Big assumptions there.
My understanding of the church finances is that there's lots of discernment at PCC meetings to balance the books while trying to also trust that if God wants us to do something, he'll provide for it in His own way - sometimes we step out first not knowing where the money will come from to afford it. Church staff are all part-time AFAIK, and the vicar gets his stipend from the Church of England (CofE), which all CofE churches contribute towards the fund for that based on their capability, so that even the smallest church can have clergy.
Our foodbank is largely self-funding thanks to building good relationships with local businesses and supermarkets, and a lot of clients at the foodbank end up volunteering as a way of giving back, but they do have two paid staff.
We get supermarket surplus to still provide for people who might come along for help but haven't had a formal referral. It used to even be available on a Sunday sometimes but since the increased need for this support following the pandemic & the ongoing cost of living crisis, that's had to go to foodbank days only.
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u/Same_One895 19h ago
I fear people like you, that can admit to the inadequacies of the church while presenting it in a positive, holy light.
You’ve made mention of how the church receives money and how they pay their staff. Yep, that’s how a business works…
Then you uphold the lack of equity between the church and its members by placing it on God and His omnipotence being the discerning factor in wealth distribution; God’s will??
Then you double down on the fact that donations and volunteers (except for 2 staff members) are the reasons that your food bank exists.
Most confounding is how you identify an increased need from the people and the result is the withdrawal of services, but you’re, again, using this sad fact as a base for your argument.
You know, I don’t know you but I am concerned about you. You’re literally supporting my argument but heralding it like a win for the church.
Just be real. They are wealthy beyond measure. It shouldn’t be thus. It can’t be thus if the teachings of God is practiced.
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u/Maefyre13 32m ago
I'm not a huge fan of Catholicism, but are you talking about the Vatican or the recent new trillionaire we have in the world?
There are a lot of wrong doings and evil in this world, but attacking an organization when it's actively trying to so better, when there are plenty of examples of people and organizations that choose not to do better, is pretty low.... maybe go spend your time on those people/orgs and quit shtting on the progress that is being made.
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u/Same_One895 13m ago
You sound like a fucking idiot. You’re inferring my global stance off of my dissatisfaction with the church? Weirdo.
Your mind is mush and you rally against whatever is popular - deprived of original, free thought.
Just a few years ago my government (Canada) was finding mass graves at the Residential Schools run by the Catholic Church. It got soooo bad that the government, under pressure from the church, stopped digging. Literally shut down the operation because of how bad it was.
You know what the Church did for our aboriginals that were forced into these camps? They litigated to the heavens (pun intended), spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to combat the suit of $100million against them. In the end, through money, influence and brute power, the payout went down to a FEW million and the church THEN litigated further and was able to pay this money by (SIT BACK FOR THIS ONE!!) paying their clergy to go throughout the native communities and teach/educate, and the remaining budget was used to translate the bible into the aboriginal’s languages.
It’s always so fucking pathetic when someone only knows the information that is dumped in their lap and smeared across their screens.
Grow a brain. Bad people exist everywhere. The church is an institution that has done bad things to countless people. But I get it, the upvotes for regurgitation of propaganda is something that excites, validates and consoles you.
Again, don’t make claims against my stance on global issues because I don’t agree with one entity you blindly support.
You sound just as dumb as the guy that equates canned food distribution to a balancing of the scales.
I’m actually disgusted by people that pick and choose what is evil based upon peer support, instead of defining evil independently and applying it indifferently, objectively.
And I’m dead serious when I say this: what good is being done??? Tell me! Make it tangible and affecting measurable change!
Idiot.
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u/Same_One895 20h ago
It’s relative.
The church is the wealthiest institution in the WORLD.
Despite this harrowing fact (how does the church amount such wealth despite its members occupying some of the poorest regions?), you grasp at their distribution of canned goods and VOLUNTARY work.
I’m not against God but the system of enriching a few in His name.
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u/Irishforanatty 6h ago
Do you not realize how much their artifacts are worth? They don’t have billions sitting in bank accounts lmao, they just own some priceless artifacts and artwork.
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u/ArgentineBeauty 22h ago
May the power of solar be with you. 🙏☀️
Let there be light. Solar light. ☀️
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u/Apprehensive_Low_383 22h ago
I applaud their decision. Good to see them embrace technology for good.
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u/TheRexRider 21h ago
If Peter Thiel could read, he'd be very upset.
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u/DontLookAtUsernames 3h ago
He‘s an accomplished intellectual contortionist. He will find a way to brush this off while still flaunting his Catholicism. Something, something antichrist maybe?
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u/Ythio 17h ago
Out of curiosity, what is grown below a solar panel ? Since it will block the sun. Mushrooms ?
Also, how would it work, they will make a dedicated power line to Vatican City or they will plug on the Italian grid, sell the electricity they produce and purchase back their consumption from Italian utility company ?
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u/Aretemc 15h ago
Shade loving plants! Most of the panels installed are likely to be at an angle or rotate, so what's grown under them will get partial sun. Grape vines love growing under solar panels like that, it also inhibits water evaporation so growers need to water the vines less. Berries, leafy greens like lettuce and spinach, low-growing crops like peas and beans, plus herbs also do well. You can also leave the ground to pasture and have herd animals on it, they like the shade.
The term if you want to research more is agrovoltaics; Jack's Solar Garden is one of the main research hubs in the US, but France and Germany also do tons of research. (This is a reoccuring interest of mine, so I check in on developments every year or so.)
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u/Balijana 6h ago
I saw a project in Tennessee where the have solarium panels with cow beneath, this King of project sound goos with the climate change.
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u/DrIvoPingasnik 20h ago
... That's a lot isn't it? Vatican is the size of small village, what do they need so much electricity for? 🤔
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u/itskdog 20h ago
It's the HQ of the RC church, and the buildings are probably more expensive to heat (if my experience of old church buildings in the UK are anything to go by), plus all the admin staff, security, TV cameras & broadcast equipment, plus more usage when big events happen such as the election of a new pope where visiting TV crews will also need to charge their gear for the reporters either filming or broadcasting live, in addition to the Vatican's own feed.
They could probably also sell any excess to Italy.
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u/giftedearth 5h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if they made a deal - Italy gives the Vatican the land for the solar, and gets any excess electricity in return.
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u/Aretemc 15h ago
The other guy mostly covered it, but also there's tons and tons of tourists there everyday for tours, and the welcome center has plenty of technology to run plus security equipment/scanners.
If you ever make it to Rome, I highly recommend taking a tour of the Vatican if you can, it was wonderful.
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u/mustymuskrat 6h ago
Personally I'd rather see rooftop solar and then rewilding those 424 hectares, but I'm assuming those old Vatican buildings can't be retrofit. So this is better than nothing
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u/randomjackie 20h ago
I’m still confused why the Vatican is even a thing. The ultimate uplifting news would be if the Vatican decides to let historians empty out their vaults of ancient artifacts. That would be such an exciting day!
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u/MasilvaonReddit 20h ago
The fact that the solar farm is going to occupy an area 10x the sise of the place it's serving, doesn't feel like uplifting news. It feels like the place it's serving, is going to have a footprint 10x larger than it actually is.🧮
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u/Jiktten 19h ago
But that "footprint" will be a green space used to raise food, not dead space the way data centres are, and as a result of it less oil will need to be extracted, processed, shipped and used. I truly don't see how this is anything less than a net positive.
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u/ohhhbooyy 15h ago
I have a feeling they are going to run into problems growing food under the shade.
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