The faithful at Mount Olive Lutheran Church just wanted to make their 80-year-old building energy-efficient, a tangible step to care for God’s creation. They didn’t know they’d be blazing a trail for geothermal heating.
Just a handful of churches have tried this hot approach in Minnesota. The construction crew that drilled 48 wells in the parking lot had never worked on a church before.
“We soon realized we were doing something pioneering,” said Art Halbardier, manager of the church building committee, as he watched the forklift on the Minneapolis construction site this week. “Geothermal is rarely used by churches, and especially by an inner-city church without much land for drilling.”
