Care of Creation Committee News
On May 15, the North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light (NC IPL) led a free energy audit and presented an educational workshop. This included people from the Properties Commission and Care of Creation Committee. Eric Soderberg, volunteering from NC State University, explained how energy providers charge. With 75 percent of our energy budget spent on heating and cooling space, we learned about ways to save money and be good stewards for the Earth at the same time. Eric suggested ways to track our energy use more simply and offered ideas to reduce costs through invoice consolidation or rate examination with Progress Energy. We held an animated discussion about challenging our community to increase the tolerance for cold or heat, saving money by broadening the “comfort zone” settings. (For more ideas how other faith communities are addressing these issues, see the IPL-sponsored website www.renewalproject.net/ )
After our education session, we walked around the physical plant. In the sanctuary, we noted the extensive work already done to improve lighting efficiency. In the parish hall, we talked about programmable thermostats and simply turning off the water heater during summer months. (“We can save money without any capital investment!” one participant exclaimed.) In the Warner building, Paul Brezny and John Johnson discussed in expert detail the heating and cooling systems. Perhaps we can explore geothermal heating and cooling for the facility? (Paul and John are following up.) In the Christian Education wing, we noted that the current building construction and historical nature of the windows prevents further enhancements for energy efficiency.
We all agreed that this three-hour investment of time was well-worth the effort. Thank you very much to Bunny Keenan and Jill Rios (NC IPL) for coordinating the event. Next steps: We anticipate a joint meeting of the Care of Creation Committee and Properties Commission to set priorities of all the action items generated from this session. Interested in helping? Contact Vicki Hesse or John Johnson. (vickihesse@yahoo.com or jjmjohnson@charter.net)
Stay tuned for the next Care of Creation Committee meeting in September. After a summer off, we will continue with plans for making every day Earth Day at All Souls. We will begin implementing the many interests expressed, such as reducing our carbon footprint, increasing recycling, using pottery gardening, kitchen composting or rain barrels, and completing “green” service projects with the youth group. Contact Dorrie Sieburg or Vicki Hesse for more info. (dorriesieburg@gmail.com (new!) or vickihesse@yahoo.com)