St. Luke's LifeWorks CEO Jason Shaplen said the new system conserves both energy and funds.

Photo Credit: Felicia Hunter

Jason Shaplen, Mayor Michael Pavia, Dave Ljungquist of CCEF, Jesse Grossman and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes cut the ceremonial ribbon.

Photo Credit: Felicia Hunter

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes emphasizes the urgency to "get as much momentum as we can around clean and sustainable energy."

Photo Credit: Felicia Hunter

Mayor Michael Pavia noted the success of public-private partnerships in helping St. Luke's meet its mission.

Photo Credit: Felicia Hunter

Jesse Grossman, CEO of Soltage, said the solar panel system provides cost savings while helping the environment.

Photo Credit: Felicia Hunter

You don’t see it or hear it, but in the past six months there’s been a huge change in the way St. Luke’s LifeWorks in Stamford provides for its energy needs.

A new system of rooftop solar panels now allows St. Luke’s to purchase electricity at a 17 percent discount. Wednesday, the organization celebrated of the solar system’s ongoing, successful operation. In addition to St. Luke’s CEO Jason Shaplen, the event was attended by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia and Jesse Grossman, CEO of Soltage LLC, provider of the new system.

The money saved in energy costs means St. Luke’s will have more funds available to further its mission of breaking the cycle of homelessness, said Shaplen. “We have 240 beds in our program,” he said, adding that youth services is among St. Luke’s program offerings.

In fact, the new solar system’s effectiveness mirrors the way Shaplen described St. Luke’s community impact.

“Our impact is actually what you don’t see, not what you do see,” he said. “You don’t see a big homeless problem in lower Fairfield County because of what we do.” He estimated that up to $6 million is saved annually in social services, incarcerations and other systematic redresses because of St. Luke’s. It’s a very cool thing, when you think about it.”

The system consists of 488 high-tech solar panels that will provide 162,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually and reduce CO2 emissions by the amount produced by the combustion of about 12,000 gallons of gasoline – every year.

The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund provided $576,916 of the total cost, which was slightly under $1 million. Soltage, which is headquartered in Jersey City, N.J., and has a Connecticut office in Hartford, funded the remainder. Soltage will own and operate the system for the next 15 years. After that, ownership most likely will be transferred to St. Luke’s LifeWorks.

Soltage’s Grossman congratulated St. Luke’s on what he called its administrators’ “creative and progressive thinking” and, he added, “using natural resources to support their basic mission of breaking the cycle of homelessness.”

What do you think of St. Luke’s LifeWorks’ green initiative? Do you think it would be helpful for other nonprofits to build solar energy systems?