Arlington church awarded for energy efficiency & cost savings shares tips you can use

Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington, Virginia is the 2022 winner of the Energy Saver category of Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations Challenge for their work to become a net zero campus through energy saving measures and for their educational outreach to their congregation and the wider community.

"Our challenge was to make our sanctuary and church campus more energy efficient so that we could decrease energy costs, reduce our carbon footprint, and use the energy savings for meaningful action in line with our values," said Laura Martin, a member of the congregation.

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The cumulative square footage of Rock Spring’s buildings is 32,990. The sanctuary was built in 1940, with additions made in 1955 and 1981.

"We purchased green energy, converted 200 fixtures to LED, purchased new HVAC systems with condensing boilers rated at 93%, increased some insulation, and more. But as the climate crisis accelerated, we agreed we had to take bolder action. We began with a careful evaluation of our campus, including a study by The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), which revealed much wasted energy, especially in the sanctuary," Martin said.

Rock Spring addressed some of the following issues to help turn things around. Some of which are things that we can all apply to our own homes.

* 70% of utility costs were due to excessive heating and cooling from inadequate insulation, with air escaping outdoors

* Lights burned in empty rooms, forcing trips to turn them off

* Rooms were heated and cooled with no one present

* Single pane windows without blinds were losing much energy

"With this information, our challenge was to eliminate or reduce wasted energy, Martin said. "We have launched a project to become a net zero church."

Members of Rock Spring’s Property Board and Green Accelerator Project met with experts to determine what steps were needed and their cost. Those actions included:

*Insulation improvements

*Solar power installation

*Window upgrades

*Automation

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"Because reaching net zero was a significant decision for our congregation, we involved as many people as possible by making presentations on three different dates to explain and discuss both the project and the financing, and to answer questions. When the net zero vote was taken in October 2020, the congregation showed overwhelming support to move ahead with a vote of 97%," Martin said.

Martin says the estimated cost of phase one – insulation and solar, which is now complete – was $405,000, but believes that the large, up-front investment will lead to huge future savings.

The $37,000 annual pre- COVID utility costs are projected to decrease as much as 75-85%. In order to finance these moves, the church decided to borrow the money from Rock Spring’s endowment at a rate of 3%, to be paid back over 20 years.

"We are ready to begin Phase Two, which will include weatherproofing and shades for the large sanctuary windows, replacement of other windows, automation for heating, cooling and room lighting, and upgraded security," Martin said. "We will discuss this at our annual congregational meeting in January, and we plan to begin Phase Two work in 2022."