With church attendance dropping across the US, many faith leaders are having difficulty 'keeping the lights on' (which may be the actual problem). The overhead for running a religious facility can be high, with energy cost topping the list. While many faith leaders make it a point shut off the lights when leaving a room, or lower the heat when a facility is not in use, their efforts just aren't enough. For significant changes to reflect in your energy bill, you must incorporate an intelligent, eco-mindset into everything you do.
Much like the human body, a church's energy efficiency must remain cohesive throughout every aspect of the facility. If you only worried about the health of your kidney and liver, you are neglecting the other organs and will inevitably succumb to illness. For this reason, Worship Tech Decisions' article, Win the Battle for Energy Efficiency at Your Church, suggest that simply making a few changes is not enough and that a church must implement a complete revamp of their structure by using the technologies available. But who has the money to do that?
Many churches are receiving assistance with the implementation of energy saving technologies through programs such as Energy Star or Blessed Tomorrow's partner, Interfaith Power and Light, that assisted over 100 religious facilities receive free solar panels, last month.
For more ways to cut energy cost or receive energy subsidies, visit Blessed Tomorrow.
Win the Battle for Energy Efficiency at Your Church
By Joel Shore For Worship Tech Decisions
The frog was right: It’s not easy being green.
In this era of escalating energy costs, every penny conserved through the avoidance of needless spending or consumption grows increasingly valuable. Alas, getting there means passing through a gauntlet of technological options, sticker shock, IT resistance, and cultural disinclination. Ironically, it’s often not the wallet driving the push toward green, but the dirty little secret no one likes to acknowledge — that the public relations benefit of touting one’s energy efficiency efforts can easily outweigh the actual savings accrued. Fortunately, that’s changing.
“This is no longer just about shutting off lights or turning down the air conditioning, it’s about the very kind of lights being installed and what kind of intelligence is being used to determine when a space is in use or when it should be shut down completely,” says Jay Rogina, principal at Spinitar, an A/V and communications integrator based in La Mirada, Calif. “Organizations are quick to get excited about going green and saving money, but they don’t understand that they’ve got to spend a lot up front to get the return on investment over several years.”
