Village Presbyterian Church (Prairie Village, KS) – added solar panels to the food pantry and community outreach center. Their new building has several green features- all designed to cut energy costs. These solar panels will help offset some of their electricity usage, especially from their refrigerator units, with clean, renewable solar energy!
Bethany Lutheran Church (Lindsborg, KS) – recently installed an open-loop geothermal system. Their old heating and cooling system needed to be replaced, so they began to research innovative systems that could save them energy and money. In its first few months of operation, it is saving the church approx. $1200/mo on their heating and cooling costs!
Salina Catholic Diocese (Salina, KS) – 25 priests recently gathered for a continuing education event entitled “Energy Stewardship Day” which invited them to consider the moral imperative to address climate change. We discussed energy efficiency retrofits to parish buildings, and took a tour of the Meridian Way Wind Project.
St. Andrew Christian Church (Olathe, KS) – recently hosted a “Cool Congregations” training program. Representatives from 14 congregations attended, and learned how to help their fellow members reduce their carbon footprint using a “10% carbon tithe” model.
Trinity Episcopal Church (Lawrence, KS) – conducted a walk-through audit of their church facilities with several members of the congregation. Then, they changed out all of the lightbulbs in the sanctuary to CFLs! After their initial success with their walk-through audit, they then pursued an Investment Grade Audit (IGA) by a certified energy service company. They received a personalized report of all the measures they could do to save energy and money.
First Unitarian Universalist Church (Wichita, KS) – showed off their super energy-efficient dishwasher as part of their pursuit of the Unitarian Universalist Green Sanctuary Certification.
What is your congregation doing to care for creation? Contact us and we’ll share your story!