Success Stories

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Hayesville

June 23, 2013 By nancy

Written by Brad Rouse. I have been a member of Good Shepherd since 2007, and the Green Team has been one of our ministries since before that time. Having a […]

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Hayesville

June 23, 2013

Written by Brad Rouse.

I have been a member of Good Shepherd since 2007, and the Green Team has been one of our ministries since before that time. Having a concern for the environment, I was attracted to become a part of that ministry under the leadership of Amy Nicolson, Meg Whitley and other members. We meet regularly at the church and look for opportunities to be good stewards of God’s creation through our church community.

At a meeting earlier this year we adopted a mission for the Green Team as follows:

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church Green Team’s mission is to follow God’s commandments that we be good stewards of what we have been given and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. We believe that God was pleased when he created this world and that He values nature as well as man. When God gave man dominion, it was so that we could care for and love His creation as much as He does. Further, when Jesus commanded that we love our neighbor as ourselves, he commanded that we go out of our way to do so and that we have a broad vision of who is our neighbor – not just our tribe, our race, our country, or even our time. A major part of our mission is simply to make ourselves and others aware that these are God’s teachings and that by caring for the Earth, we are following His command. Further, we must also make ourselves and others aware that as we have been more and more blessed by “be fruitful and multiply”, we have created the condition that our every action has an impact on God’s creation and on our neighbors who live here now and who will live here in the future. The way we act today is simply not sustainable and if we do not change there will be irreparable damage to His creation and irreparable harm to those who will follow us. We must act and change.

We also recognize that our awareness as individuals is not enough. We must advocate our point of view in our church, in our families, in our businesses, in our communities, and in our state and national politics.

Finally, awareness and advocacy are not enough. Our mission is also to take action as individuals and as a group to make changes that will reduce the risk and heal the damage.

West Market Street United Methodist Church, Greensboro

May 31, 2013 By chris

West Market Street United Methodist Church, Greensboro

May 31, 2013 by chris

West Market Street United Methodist Church’s Care4Creation team launched a “Let There Be Light” campaign during the month of April to educate the congregation about the benefits of LED light bulbs and to invite contributions towards purchasing bulbs for three highly used areas of the church. The emphasis built up to a worship service on April 28 to celebrate God’s creation and call on the congregation to “Love What God Loves.”

In the spring of 2012, the Care4Creation ministry team at West Market St. UMC, located in downtown Greensboro, NC, conceived of the idea of reducing energy consumption in the church facility by switching to LED light bulbs, which are estimated to last ten times longer that conventional bulbs. Not only would replacement reduce the wattage used by replacing 100 and 150 watt incandescent bulbs with 15 watt LED, the costs related to air conditioning in the Fellowship Hall and the Gathering Space where large groups of people convene for meetings, dinners, and a modern worship service would be greatly reduced. In addition, the team wanted to replace the bulbs in the historic sanctuary to cut costs there as well.

With the guidance of an electrical designer and contractor, C4C researched LED bulbs’ cost, color quality, wattage, etc. With bulbs costing $25-$40, the project seemed out of reach. But the team realized that most church members would probably be willing to invest in a light bulb to help cut electrical costs in our large facility. Information was shared with the church Trustees and Finance committees, who endorsed the project.

For four Sundays in April, the congregation members came to the LED Display which included a box wired with a incandescent bulb and an LED bulb to compare the light and the heat emitted from each. A potter in the congregation donated a handmade lamp and an artist donated a painting of the church, which were given to two donors whose names were chosen at the end of the campaign. Persons were invited to donate $25 toward the purchase of an LED bulb.

The good news is that the congregation responded! Over $3,500.00 was raised. Before purchasing bulbs, WMS will apply to the Duke Power Smart Saver Incentive program in hopes of being rewarded with a rebate for this proposal to cut energy costs. Then we will know what funds we will actually have to go towards the purchase and installation of LED bulbs. Let there be light: LED!

Contact Name: Rev. Pam Strader
Contact Email: revpls@earthlink.net
Contact Phone: 336-457-0091

Elon Community Church

April 26, 2013 By chris

Elon Community Church followed the LLC model of financing our solar panels. This is the model developed by the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE) in Boone and utilized by […]

Elon Community Church

April 26, 2013 by chris

Elon Community Church followed the LLC model of financing our solar panels. This is the model developed by the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy (AIRE) in Boone and utilized by the Asheville UCC. What follows are learnings and suggestions gleaned from our experience of putting this model into action. Refer to Joe Hoffman’s article to see the original example.

Perspective: This is a creative and complex model that allows a non-profit (for example, a church) to take advantage of tax credits in order to maximize capital investment in solar panels. Its structure and process allow “benevolent investors” (in an LLC) to recoup most or all of their investments over the course of about six years. This means that a church will most likely be able to put up a larger array of solar panels than would normally be possible, because investors would get their money back, whereas contributors would only get a charitable contribution credit on their taxes.

Findings:

1) The process, from information gathering to educating the congregation to site assessment to fund raising to trustee approval to panel installation to final connection and activation, took over two years. All along the way there were many details to learn and obstacles to overcome. Patience, perseverance, and faith are needed.

2) It seems important to involve not only a core group of solar panel promoters, but also as many people in the congregation as possible. This project needs dedicated people with skills in technology, church politics and functioning, construction, fund raising/investing, marketing. That bears much fruit when it comes time for approving the project and raising the funds.

3) Think big. Put up as large an array of panels as possible, even if you have to wait a little longer to accumulate the necessary capital. The costs of solar panels is steadily decreasing. The LLC paperwork involved in financing a large system is not much more than that for financing a small one. AIRE is now focusing on assisting the non-profits who organize to finance at least 20 kW systems (80 panels), and they actually much prefer larger systems. The only down side to a large system is that NC Green Power will not buy Renewable Energy Credits from systems larger than 5kW. Thus that source of revenue for investors will not be available.

4) In forming the LLC, consider expanding the possible pool of investors beyond just church members. While it is important for the church to have a strong sense of ownership for the project, there may be people in the community who would also like to invest in a renewable energy project. This can strengthen community ties and be a good advertisement for a congregation that does earth stewardship.

5) We contracted with AIRE to teach us the LLC financing model and to guide us through its implementation. We could not have done this project without them.

6) You will need the help of a lawyer and a tax accountant who are familiar enough with the LLC financing model to ably facilitate it. AIRE can recommend such professionals if you do not already have them available.

7) Due to the fact that our church was erecting a new Community Life Center, we had some complications. First of all, our members were already financially pledged to the new building. This made for unfortunate timing for fund-raising for solar panels. Investor-financing was helpful here, but still limited in potential.

8) Secondly, the new building was determined to be the best site for the solar panels, but it has insulated roof panels. This was good for energy efficiency, but problematic for attaching frames for solar panels. Our trustees raised this issue with much concern. We had to pay the architect to engineer the attachment process.

9) You have to have liability insurance for your solar panels. Although the church’s own insurance did provide that coverage, the insurance company itself would not name our LLC as an insured party. Thus Duke Energy required that the LLC buy separate liability insurance before they would contract with us.

10) We sell our generated electricity to Duke Energy. In order to do that, we had to sign contracts and have them run through their inspection and connection procedures. That all took several weeks. Now we are producing and selling, but be forewarned that Duke’s purchase price for renewable energy is significantly below what they charge customers for electricity. Progress Energy pays more than Duke does, but now they are merging with Duke and that could change.

Was it worth the effort and aggravation? Yes, definitely. We are subtracting some carbon that would normally be put into our atmosphere. We are educating our congregation about climate change, we will be saving the church money on utility bills. We are witnessing to our community about earth stewardship. We hope, in the future, to add to our solar panel array and to produce more renewable, clean energy.

-David Andes, Chair Elon Community Church Green Church Committee

Community United Church of Christ, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 By chris

Community UCC, Raleigh & Raleigh Friends 814 Dixie Trail, Raleigh and 625 Tower St, Raleigh In May of 2007, Community United Church of Christ (CUCC) concluded that global warming (climate […]

Community United Church of Christ, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 by chris

Raleigh Friends and Community UCC pre-work crew

Community UCC, Raleigh & Raleigh Friends
814 Dixie Trail, Raleigh and 625 Tower St, Raleigh

In May of 2007, Community United Church of Christ (CUCC) concluded that global warming (climate change) is real and will be a disaster for everyone, rich and poor.

We also concluded that it hurts the poor more than the rich.

Quoting the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change: “People who are poor are least able to adapt to climate change…” and “… millions … will suffer from hunger, thirst, floods and disease unless drastic action is taken…”

In response, we initiated a CUCC Focus called “Justice in a Changing Climate” to:

Educate ourselves, Change our practices
Provide an interfaith religious focal point of leadership and action on climate change and advocacy.
Act to decrease the impact of climate change on the poor.

Since that time, we have held and attended education events, improved CUCC’s carbon footprint, been involved in advocacy and worked with other churches and faiths to seek ways forward.

In 2011, in collaboration with Lyle Adley-Warrick of the Raleigh Friends Meeting and NCIPL, we initiated action to decrease the impact of climate change and improve the quality of life for some Wake County low-income families. For both comfort and safety in the face of climate change, the need for home energy efficiency and insulation is increasingly important.

Fortunately, “Resources for Seniors” of Wake Co weatherizes and insulates homes for families of low income. The program is funded by the federal Stimulus program and is quite successful. Some families’ homes cannot be weatherized because the houses need minor repairs or have some debris that prevents the weatherization crews from doing their job.

To help these families, our two churches started “Pre-weatherization” home repairs or debris clean out to help make these “walk away” houses ready for weatherization.

On Easter Saturday morning, a crew of 10 people from CUCC and the Friends cleaned out the crawlspace of a house in Raleigh. The elderly man of the house told us that this enabled “Resources” to insulate his crawlspace and attic and replace his HVAC system. We were thrilled by the impact.

Since then, we cleaned out a second and a third house, made some significant repairs on a fourth, and then cleaned out a few more. We have now helped eight families have their homes weatherized that would not have been weatherized otherwise.

Along the way, we worked with people from four other churches and met some wonderful families. We pray that they each are more comfortable and will see their energy consumption decrease in the coming years. We plan to continue this work in 2013, and other people and congregations are coming on board. We are currently looking at a house near Sanford and another one in Wake County.

Finally, we have recently learned that there may also be people who need help filling out the weatherization application form, and we have begun to explore whether we can help here as well. The work continues.

Most importantly, the following people from CUCC, Raleigh Friends Meeting and beyond have been the blessings who worked on the houses to make this ministry happen this year: David and Gale Cass, Dwayne and Carrie Edwards-Cook, Lena Gallitano, Pastor Steve Halsted, Ron Howell, Tim Jensen, Marty Lamb, Patrick Lee, John Little, Cathy Marshall, Maegan Mohr, Carl Sigel, Jane Smith, Skip Stoddard, Edith Sylla, Gary Smith and Lyle Adley-Warrick.

I am moved to say that we are blessed to help, and we have had a ball at each event. I pray that we can impact climate change and increase the comfort of those influenced by it.

It would be great if you would be interested in getting involved. As you can guess, we can use your strong hands and backs, but we also need people who can listen and people who can help work to maintain and expand the program. Please contact me, Gary Smith (smithgk@mindspring.com) or Lyle Adley-Warrick (adleywarrick.l@gmail.com) if you would like to join our team or get information on forming your own with your congregation.

-Written by Gary Smith, member of CUCC

The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More, Chapel Hill

March 26, 2013 By chris

The Environmental Stewardship Ministry of The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More was founded in 2008 to foster Christian environmental stewardship and establish and improve environmental management practices in church and school facilities and grounds. The ministry developed directly from the “Sustainability Committee” that for four years was part of the New Building Committee until the completion of the building project. The foundation of the ministry lies in the principles of the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor.

The Environmental Stewardship Ministry organized its yearly initiatives in a repeating three-year block corresponding to the Catholic liturgical calendar in order to highlight the connection between environmental responsibility and Christian spirituality. Year A (2011) focuses on waste reduction and an increase in recycling. Year B (2012) aligns with energy use reduction. Year C (2013) is focusing on water use reduction.

The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More, Chapel Hill

March 26, 2013 by chris

The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More
940 Carmichael St Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Focusing on energy reduction in 2012, we invited NCIPL to conduct an energy audit of our campus. Since not all buildings could be covered in the time available, we looked at the new Parish Center and the Sanctuary. Afterwards we prioritized based on affordability and pay-back the items identified by the excellent auditor and have begun working on our list. At no cost to the church, the air flow from the sanctuary HV/AC was re-directed away from the windows and into the sanctuary. A second change was the replacement of lights in the entrance hall ceiling with LED lights. A total of 152 halogen lights were replaced with LED lights for a monthly cost savings of $170.87. Our initial investment of $3000 will be repaid in 18 months, and then the savings will go directly to parish ministries. Given the fact that these bulbs are estimated to last 15-20 years, we expect to save at least $27,700 in electricity bills throughout the lifespan of these bulbs (based on current electric rates, which are subject to change and using the lights an average of 6 hours/day). Specific details regarding the types of halogen and LED lights involved in the project, the monthly cost savings, and life expectancy of LEDs can be found at the end of the article.

This year we are focusing on water use reduction, primarily in home use since significant water-saving features were installed during the construction project. Low-flow fixtures were installed throughout the Parish Center and the adjoining student bathrooms. A 15,000 gallon cistern provides harvested rainwater for the bathrooms in the Parish Center. In the three years since construction, there has been no need to use OWASA reclaimed water for the toilets and urinals since the cistern has handled our need. The reclaimed water is used not only as backup for inside use but also for any irrigation of the athletic field. The savings from the low-flow fixture and cistern installation are detailed in the charts below.

Parish Center Low-Flow Toilets

OWASA Units Saved Monthly10.656

Water Saved Daily355.2 Gallons

Monthly Cistern Water Cost Savings$85.25

Monthly Low-Flow Sewer Cost Savings$85.25

Parish Center Low-Flow Urinals

OWASA Units Saved Monthly4.05

Water Saved Daily135 Gallons

Monthly Low-Flow Water Cost Savings$32.40

Monthly Low-Flow Sewer Cost Savings$32.40

School Low-Flow Toilets

OWASA Units Saved Monthly5.994

Water Saved Daily199.8 Gallons

Monthly Low-Flow Water Cost Savings$47.95

Monthly Low-Flow Sewer Cost Savings$47.95

School Low-Flow Urinals

OWASA Units Saved Monthly2.025

Water Saved Daily67.5 Gallons

Monthly Low-Flow Water Cost Savings$16.20

Monthly Low-Flow Sewer Cost Savings$16.20

St. Thomas More Church and School recycling efforts in 2012 led to the collection of over 22 tons of material that will be used in the fertilization of plant life and the creation of new products.

The Environmental Stewardship Ministry has also organized initiatives for 2013. If there is sufficient interest among parishioners, we will start the San Isidro Labrador organic garden that will be cooperatively maintained by Anglo and Latino parishioners. The ministry will also conduct waste reduction training sessions for other parish ministries who hold “food events” to provide information on the “why” and “what” on recycling and composting to empower those groups to reduce the waste at their events

The larger mission of the Environmental Stewardship Ministry is to “Care for Creation and the Poor.” In our fifth year of existence, the ministry aims to bring the message of environmental responsibility into a new realm: Encouraging parishioners to incorporate environmental stewardship practices into their daily lives at home and within the parish. From the proposed cooperative organic garden to the monthly collection of select recyclable materials, St. Thomas More parishioners are actively embracing environmental stewardship as an integral part of their Christian spirituality.

LED Light Installation and Cost Savings

•Replacing 90, MR-16 halogen bulbs 35W/50W, with Toshiba 6.7W LED bulbs rated for 25000 hours at a savings of $76.63 per month based on average daily usage of 6 hours. That usage also implies a life expectancy of 11.4 years for the LEDs.

•Replacing 40, PAR-30/ BR-30 65W bulbs, with Toshiba BR-30 13.8W LED bulbs rated 40000 hours at a savings of $51.48 per month. 6 hours average daily usage implies a life expectancy of 18.3 years.

•Replacing 16, PAR-38 90W halogen bulbs, with UtiliTech PAR-38 20W LED bulbs rated 30000 hours at a savings of $28.51 per month. 6 hours average daily usage implies a life expectancy of 13.7 years.

•Replacing 6, PAR-38 120W halogen bulbs, with Lighting Science PAR-38 24W LED bulbs rated 50000 hours at a savings of $14.26 per month. 6 hours average daily usage implies a life expectancy of 22.8 years.

-Bob Weickert, co-chair of the Environmental Stewardship Ministry at St. Thomas More

Temple Emanuel, Winston Salem

March 26, 2013 By chris

Temple Emanuel, Winston Salem 201 Oakwood Dr Winston-Salem, NC 27103 Temple Emanuel’s climate change leadership is spearheaded by “Temple Emanuel Environmental Movement” (TEEM), which was formed in 2008. The goal of […]

Temple Emanuel, Winston Salem

March 26, 2013 by chris

Temple Emanuel, Winston Salem
201 Oakwood Dr Winston-Salem, NC 27103

Temple Emanuel’s climate change leadership is spearheaded by “Temple Emanuel Environmental Movement” (TEEM), which was formed in 2008. The goal of TEEM is to bring together people of different faiths, socio-economic backgrounds, races, ages and cultures, and to educate them about the importance of caring for the environment through their day-to-day actions, voting, and consumer purchases. TEEM strives to build strong alliances in the community and with different faiths.

TEEM began its work by hosting a monthly environmental movie/speaker series in 2007. A typical audience is between 50 to 100 people. After the movie, the audience is asked to take specific actions. Often movies are planned to coincide with other environmental events (local, statewide, national and international). For example, on the International Day for Climate Action (9/24/09), TEEM created a temporary interfaith group named CARE (Citizens Acting for Renewable Energy) which held a rally of 50 people with signs on 5 busy street corners. In conjunction with this event, TEEM ran a successful petition drive, where over 500 signatures were obtained and sent to North Carolina’s US Senators Burr and Hagan, requesting their support of strong climate legislation. TEEM showed the movie “Everything’s Cool” and a video was produced about the weekend event.

TEEM continues to work on “greening” the temple with the support of the Temple clergy and Presidents, past and current. TEEM has also proposed that the Temple Board adopt a sustainability policy, considering the environment in every Temple/member activity, from the building, to the grounds, to the education of our children. TEEM also showed the National IPL film, “Renewal,” which inspired the attendees of various faiths to participate in a brainstorming session on how to bring our community together through common goals of caring for the Earth and our environment. This fall, TEEM hosted a speaker from NCIPL, who shared part of their emPOWERed program.

Since its formation, TEEM has organized, partnered with and participated in other environmental activities. For example, TEEM and members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship organized the interfaith booth at the 2009 and 2010 Earth Day Fairs, which were staffed by a variety of faith congregations, including Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus. Several years ago, TEEM hosted a NCIPL energy audit and workshop, inviting other congregations for the workshop. The energy audit resulted in immediate energy reduction (leading to cost savings) and also assisted TEEM in prioritizing actions to reduce the Temple’s energy use. This supported our request that the Temple board hire a professional energy auditor. TEEM converted the eternal light from the electric grid to solar and has made many other internal changes, with more plans in the future.

Recently, TEEM worked together with NCIPL to lead a workshop hosted by the Winston-Salem organization “CHANGE” (Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment) on “Congregations Going Green” in the Winston-Salem community. Additional actions and activities include: staging environmental workshops, planning movies around other city-wide environmental events, and organizing interfaith environmental booths at sustainability fairs throughout the year.

TEEM has proven that movies are an inexpensive way to educate the public and that the process is replicable. Since TEEM’s film series began, other organizations such the Piedmont Environmental Alliance, Yadkin Riverkeeper and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association have shown environmental films to educate the public, sometimes in anticipation of their upcoming events. In 2010 and 2011, the annual River Run International Film Festival in Winston-Salem also showed environmental films.

Recognizing TEEM’s impressive works, Temple Emanuel was awarded the coveted Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism Irving J. Fain Award for Outstanding Synagogue Social Action Programming, one of the highest honors available to congregations within the Reform Jewish Movement. The attitudes and actions of Temple Emanuel’s members have been influenced by TEEM. There are many hybrid cars in the temple parking lot and there are few large SUVs.

-Written by the members of TEEM

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LED Light Installation and Cost Savings

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