On November 19, the Board of the Flat Rock Brook Nature Association in Englewood authorized its Executive Director, Stephen Wiessner, to implement his recommendation to install 47 solar panels on the roof of its nature center building at 443 Van Nostrand Avenue at an estimated cost of $78,000. Much of this cost would be covered by a grant from the New Jersey Clean Energy Program, and the balance from savings on the cost of electricity over a period of seven years, according to Wiessner’s recommendation.

Flat Rock Brook, which manages 150 undeveloped, largely woodland, acres in Englewood’s Second Ward, and has provided nature educational programs for area schoolchildren over several decades, is Englewood’s most prominent environmentally focused organization. As such, one of its aims is to increase awareness in the community of environmental concerns and to set an example. The new initiative, which will reduce the demand for electricity generated by burning fossil fuels, is viewed primarily in this light. It is expected that the physical change itself will be implemented by publicity and by educational efforts to spread knowledge and understanding of "green technology."