Monday, June 27, 2005
Churches go green
Churches, mosques, and synagogues look for ways to make their buildings more energy efficient, both to heed ethical imperatives against waste, and also to save money.
As evidence of global warming has mounted, congregations across the US are examining their habits and asking what their faith demands of them in response. Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish groups have turned to scripture for guidance.
Houses of worship, it turns out, are some of the biggest wasters of energy on a per capita, per hour-of-use basis.
With help from an interfaith power and light movement now spreading around the country, churches and other religious institutions are cutting back on energy consumption, investing in more efficient heating and lighting systems, buying renewable energy, and even, on occasion, joining the effort to "build green."
Congregations that practice environmental stewardship can save 30 percent on their utility bills, says the US Environmental Protection Agency. If all US congregations did the same, they'd save an estimated $573 million annually and prevent 6 million tons of CO2 from polluting the air - the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.
Churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples get help for stewardship efforts in EPA's Energy Star program, which identifies equipment, appliances, and lighting products that are energy efficient and provides some funding (www.energystar.gov).
The interfaith power and light movement, now active in about a dozen states, aims to help congregations by providing ready access to technical services for efficiency upgrades; information on funding resources; and a means for purchasing solar, wind, or landfill gas power.
The movement - sparked in California by an interfaith discussion on how to respond to global warming - began in the late '90s in the Episcopal church. After gaining backing from the state's bishops, MacAusland and Sally Bingham, a priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, formed Episcopal Power & Light (EP&L) as California was deregulating the electrical industry.
"Suddenly people were going to have choices about where their electricity came from, and we focused on clean energy," says the Rev. Ms. Bingham. Within two years, 60 Episcopal churches were buying renewable energy from Green Mountain Energy and using conservation measures.
"Renewable energy is the most exciting part of the program - getting power from the sun and wind," says MacAusland. "But you need to build your base on energy conservation and efficiency, and by saving energy and money you can begin to afford premium grades of power."
In 2000, other churches and synagogues joined the effort with the formation of California Interfaith Power & Light. Congregation Shir Hadash of Los Gatos became the first synagogue in the state to install solar panels, spurred, says Rabbi Melanie Aron, by the Jewish teaching of Tikkun Olam about repairing the earth.
As other states deregulated, however, interest in the program caught on. MacAusland formed MIP&L, and similar nonprofits are developing in New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina, Maine, Georgia, Tennessee, and Michigan. With the growing enthusiasm, a foundation is funding CIPL to act as an umbrella group supporting interfaith efforts nationwide.
IP&L receives funding from the Heinz Endowments, and can offer free audits, technical services, and help in upgrades. It also provides churches with a curriculum to explore connections between faith, religious spaces, and the environment. St. Stephen's benefited from $30,000 of IP&L planning and technical services.
Churches have lagged far behind commercial and government entities in green building because it requires a lot of costly planning, which St. Stephen's couldn't have done without IP&L's help. They hope to finish the project by the fall.
Not everyone needs to be that ambitious to have an impact, says Scot Horst, IP&L director. "We tend not to focus on global warming - it's such a big issue. But churches have a tool right under their noses that allows you to do what you can right now - your own building."
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
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