Join the many faith communities across California that take seriously the call from their faith to care for their neighbor by caring for our common home. They are using Interfaith Power & Light’s unique Cool Congregations stewardship program resources to reduce the climate change emissions from their facilities, help their members reduce emissions at home, and serve as a leader in the wider community. They often save hundreds of dollars in the process.
Contact Gregory Stevens (he/they) to begin your application, gregory@interfaithpower.org
Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations program offers resources to guide you every step of the way: taking a “before” snapshot of your carbon footprint, finding ways to reduce, educating your congregation, taking an “after” snapshot, and celebrating the success! Once you have your worship facility reducing energy use, get you congregants involved in reducing energy use at home. Get the Cool Congregations Contest kit soon!
The Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program estimates that if America’s 370,000 congregations cut energy use just 20% it would save nearly $630 million per year that could be applied to missions. These energy savings would prevent the equivalent reduction in climate pollution of eliminating emissions from 480,000 cars, or planting 60,000 trees every year!
Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations program offers many ways to help you cut the carbon.
Loomis Leads the Way
Loomis Basin Congregational UCC, in Loomis, California, is certified as a Cool Congregation at the 100% reduction level for installing solar that powers their all-electric buildings.
“As progressive Christians we understand that true justice requires that all of creation be healed in the process. God’s reign can only truly come to fruition when creation and its longevity are the center point of our flourishing. We celebrate being a congregation that takes environmental justice seriously because it is central to God’s invitation to co-create and be good stewards of this beautiful planet.” Rev. Casey Brian Tinnin, Church Pastor.
Contact Gregory Stevens (he/they) to begin your application, gregory@interfaithpower.org
Member Ginny Day shares this,
“We are becoming more aware of the issue of climate change as we have been impacted by the growing frequency and severity of wildfires in our area.
We heat and cool, and power our buildings with heat pumps and don’t use gas for anything. We installed solar panels to provide 100% of our electric needs. The cost was $29,000, and we save $6000 annually on energy bills.
Our electricity usage from the grid was 13,000 kWh, and our panels provide enough electricity to share the excess production of approximately 3500 kWh back to the grid to green the grid for others.
We have reduced our electric bill to 0 (except for transmission charges,) and we have reduced our carbon emissions by 2 tons annually. Also, since we elected to go with Pioneer Community Energy, our excess electricity is helping to provide “green” energy for others.
We are part of a coalition of congregations in Placer County, “Placer People of Faith Together,” which has a “climate care” group, Placer Earth Care Action (PECA).. The cost savings that we have reported from our solar has persuaded a couple of other congregations who are part of the coalition to promote solar to their churches.”
IPL’s Cool Congregations Certification recognizes carbon reductions resulting from permanent changes made to congregational facilities to cut the use of fossil fuels. Since the Loomis Basin congregation gets all of its energy needs from the sun, they are recognized at the 100% reduction level. This is a laudable accomplishment, but Ginny reports the congregation is aiming to reduce emissions from other activities as well.
“Our building’s electricity is 100% green and renewable, but when I used the Cool Congregations calculator, it reminded me of all the other carbon-producing aspects of congregational life that we could work on reducing.
Because of our location (we are somewhat rural), there is no public transportation, and most of our members don’t carpool. Among our members, we have 3 or 4 EVs plus a fair number of hybrid cars, but most are gas vehicles, so I calculated our overall level of carbon reduction was only about 10%.
We plan to “green” our food service, update our heat pump, and put a rideshare app on our website. We are also looking into getting an EV charger in our parking lot in a couple of years.”
Loomis Basin UCC website: https://www.loomisucc.org/
Contact Gregory Stevens (he/they) to begin your application, gregory@interfaithpower.org
On-Going: Faith Voice In 2023 Climate Justice Legislation