Hindu temple builds world's largest solar kitchen - Centre designed to be greener than green

By Umli Miuli @ Friday, July 11, 2008 12:59 PM

Section - PCs/Unusual

The Shri Swaminarayan Mandir and Cultural Center in California has adopted a series of measures to reduce power consumption, including the wold's largest solar kitchen.

The centre claims to create love, peace, and harmony in life, and aims at environment protection. It will be ready by summer of 2008, with the support of the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) organisation.

The solar kitchen was installed by the Brahna Kumaris World Spiritual University and Academy for a Better World. The centre will install a 60KW grid-tied solar power system, with the capacity of generating surplus power which can be sent to the local grid for distribution. This will lead to an estimated reduction of 1,556 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The centre has also adopted solar tube lighting and plans to avoid the use of light bulbs during the day. It also aims to plant around 400 species of tree, to improve the air quality in the area.

BAPS is a large socio-spiritual Hindu organisation, with 3,300 centres and 5,500 volunteers worldwide. X

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