Do it YourselfCongregations that do these energy assessments can typically reduce their energy usage by up to 30%, save more than 2% annually on their energy bills, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 87 metric tons. Interested in going solar? This baseline helps you determine how you can best participate in solar adoption: by installing your own system, joining a community solar program, or advocating for solar policies. All of this is possible by determining your current status (baseline) and then taking next steps. Benchmarking takes a few hours, and much of that is tracking down your utility bills. If you have questions or need help, please sign up. -->
1 - Collect 12 months (and 24 months is even better!) of your worship facility's utility bills (electric, gas). You can include water, too. Paper bills are ok, but you may prefer to request or download them electronically from your utility's website. Portfolio Manager will use these simple data to generate valuable information about trends and priorities just for you. 2 - Use EPA's Data Collection Worksheet to organize data from your utility bills for easy entry into Portfolio Manager, a trusted, free, online tool developed by Energy Star and used by many congregations, schools, universities, and commercial buildings. You can find more information at EPA's Resources for Congregations. 3 - Log in to Portfolio Manager and set up an account for your facility. 4 - Using either your utility bills or the Data Collection Worksheet for reference, enter information into Portfolio Manager following the prompts. 5 - Once the data are entered, Portfolio Manager can do some fast analysis for you. You can run reports to see trends (which is why 24 months are best!) and get an Energy Star score rating from 1-100. Lower scores mean lots of room to improve, so that's ok! If you need help with any of these DIY steps, reach out to us for assistance. Fill in the "SEEK Sign-Up Form," and one of our students will contact you to follow up. Vertical Divider
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Sign Up for AssistanceIf you would like assistance, just ask! We'll be glad to help.
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