Sister Janet Ryan of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary tells Lee Patrick Sullivan about the sustainable improvements her convent has made in the past five years, including geothermal heat pumps, a gray water recycling system and energy efficient lighting. Ryan says the challenges the sisters encountered before the renovation included a 75-year-old building and infrastructure, which were up to date for energy efficiency when they were built, but have since become obsolete. She says the chapel was not included in the original renovation, but now the Sisters are starting to work on its stained glass windows and lighting system, to make them more energy efficient. She says the contractors initially saw a "gold mine of low-hanging fruit" they could take care of right away when they began the renovation, but they wanted to dig deeper to install energy efficient systems in an older building. When the contractors began actually demolishing the building, they decided to reuse much of it, what she calls "carving a path for the future," by employing practices in the United States that have been used for years in Europe. She says the first decision her order made was whether to renovate or replace the building, and and the sisters decided to reuse it. So they decided what parts of the building could be reused or recycled in other buildings. Then they decided that a geothermal system would be best for heating and cooling the building. The system consists of 232 bore holes, or wells, that are 450 feet deep. They bring heat into the building at 55 degrees, and the temperature is raised through friction to about 72 degrees. The process is reversed in the summertime, when the Earth is used as a giant "radiator" to hold the summer heat removed from the building. Ryan says the initial motivation was the need for a better building, but they were also strongly swayed by their belief in "ecojustice," which is the belief that people need to take care of the Earth. That was combined with the Catholic social ...

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