Congregations are feeling the pinch of rising energy costs and are making the link between energy efficiency, building management, and their missions of creation care and environmental sustainability. Last night, I attended a seminar hosted by Arlington County and the Arlington Interfaith Council designed to start teaching congregations how to reduce energy usage and energy costs in their congregation’s buildings. Attendance was double what I expected -- 17 congregations were represented, including a couple from outside Arlington who wanted in on the secrets of energy conservation and cost reduction.
EPA’s Energy Star program for congregations offers easy to use tools for benchmarking and tracking electric and gas usage. This initial data entry and analysis would be a great youth group project for computer-savvy high school students. Using Energy Star allows the congregation to track energy usage over time and offers invaluable insights into the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy usage houses of worship.
Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light offers free initial energy assessments of congregation buildings. Energy efficient lightbulbs and products are available at reduced prices at www.shopipl.org
From changing lightbulbs to including environmental sustainability in Sunday school classes, congregations in Arlington are actively practicing what they preach by joining Arlington’s Initiative to Reduce Emissions to reduce the risks of global warming (and they are saving money while they’re at it
The event was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington. They offered members the opportunity to "sponsor a light bulb" thus raising enough money to change out the inefficient incandescent bulbs in the church's building. They also created a huge footprint, which they hung in a prominent location and asked members to place a globe sticker on the footprint every time they did something reduce climate change -- a very effective visual! Another creative congregation sold compact fluorescent lightbulbs as a fundraiser for one of their service committees.
Although Arlington won't solve the global warming problem alone, the overwhelming feeling at the meeting was that we can each make a difference one light bulb and one congregation at a time.
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Joan Kelsch coordinates Arlington County’s Green Building Programs
She can be reached at 703-228-3599.
