St. John's Episcopal Church in Vernon reduces energy, and saves money and wins national award
About five years ago, the Environmental Ministry and the Facilities committee collaborated to change almost all the incandescent bulbs to CFLs. In early November 2010, Facilities got multiple setback electronic control thermostats installed, enabling five heating zones in the Parish House, at a cost of over $10,000. But that left 117 lighting fixtures (T-12s plus outdoor floods) still hanging in the Undercroft, the parish hall, the Sunday School rooms, the hallways, the offices, and outdoors! Individual bulbs and then entire ballasts began to fizzle. Could we get new lighting and decrease our carbon footprint at the same time?
Winter, 2011:
Facilities called multiple contractors for tours of the buildings, and solicited quotes. The best deal for F32T8s (28W) fluorescents (all with low energy electronic ballasts) plus XIG-CLP-3040s for outdoors, would cost us over $13,000. This parish was seriously in the red a couple of years ago, and is now just about breaking even. So the Vestry was somewhat nervous about such a large bill (especially on top of the thermostat costs)-and worried about the interest on any loan.
Then Environmental learned that Connecticut's IPL (Inter-Religious Eco-Justice Network) would be running their "This Old House of Worship" program, in which groups of congregations participate in a 6-week course on STEM (Savings through Energy Management). So Environmental told Facilities, and members of both committees attended the program. Especially important, we learned how to perform an energy audit, and to calculate the energy and cost savings that would accrue if the new lighting were installed!
March-April 2011:
Facilities was persistent, and negotiated to get an interest-free loan from our utility's (CL&P) Small Business Program. So -- could the church now swing $370/month for three years? Facilities called Environmental: The Vestry is going to vote soon. Environmental promised to pay the first month from their account, and contacted the ECW (Episcopal Church Women). The ECW promised to chip in as well. Environmental launched a campaign whereby parishioners would 'adopt' a lighting fixture, and pay for it either upfront or as part of their regular pledge. The Vestry took up the commitment to be good stewards of God's creation, and voted to approve!
June 2011:
All 117 fixtures were installed in 2 days. Eight parishioners and groups immediately signed up to adopt a fixture.
September, 2011:
Our treasurer reported that our electricity usage since the upgrade decreased by 1,328 Kwh, or 22%, over the same period in 2010! Hooray, we are on track to decrease our CO2 emissions by 5 tons per year! Also, because of the new thermostats, our natural gas usage has decreased by 15%, or about 1000 CCF over the past year. AND, over half of the lighting costs have now been covered by Creation-loving parishioners!
Based on the work described above, CT Interfaith Power and Light announced that St. John's Episcopal Church in Vernon was selected as a 2011 Cool Congregations Challenge winner in the category of Energy Efficiency. The Cool Congregations Challenge, sponsored by Interfaith Power and Light, is a united effort by religious congregations across the country to address global warming by reducing their carbon footprint and becoming inspirations to their members and communities. On behalf of the Board, we want to congratulate the Green Team at St. John's, led by Letty Naigles. "We are so impressed - the category of energy efficiency was extremely competitive," said Director Terri Eickel. "Their victory really calls attention to their dedication and commitment to climate change." Eickel's enthusiasm was echoed by Naigles, who said, "We are so thrilled to see our collaborative efforts recognized and are already brainstorming about different projects."