Editor's note: The Energy Services Bulletin features real answers to real questions posed to our staff at the Energy Services Power Line. We hope you find it useful.

Question:

What can we do to reduce utility bills at our church?

We have a poorly-maintained 34,000 square foot facility with monthly utility bills of $2,200, and a congregation of only 25 people! Problem areas include:

• No zone controls on the oil-fired, hot-water boiler heating system; the whole building must be heated to use one room. We heat office areas with portable 110-volt space heaters to keep from running the boiler during the week.

• Sanctuary lighting consists of fixtures holding three 300-watt floodlights, mounted to the beams 30 to 60 feet above the floor. Most are burned out since we can't reach them.

• Lighting in classrooms and other areas is a mixture of bulbs and tubes. Most are very old, and some rooms have been abandoned because the old tube fixture transformers have leaked or burnt out.

Answer:

You seem to have much more facility than you can support—unfortunately a common situation for churches. Perhaps other small congregations in need of a building would be interested in sharing space and costs.

Churches pose a special challenge because their energy consumption is often too small to interest energy service companies, and separation of church and state can interfere with receiving services from some publicly funded groups. Ask your utility about auditing or other services it offers, since it is likely to be your best source of free information regarding your heating system. Heating contractors may provide information about your specific needs, although they are frequently hoping to make a sale. Some contractors charge a fee for evaluating a heating system, but it may be less than an independent consultant.

Interfaith Coalition on Energy is an excellent resource for churches concerned with energy matters. ICE offers information and seminars on conserving energy in religious institutions. For a fee they also perform energy audits of institutions. ICE publishes a quarterly newsletter you should consider subscribing to, and sells and rents audio and video material you may find helpful.

Otherwise, the steps for managing energy consumption are very much the same for a church as they are for any other facility:

• Develop a user-supported energy management plan.

• Implement low- and no-cost operating changes to reduce the load on energy-using systems.

• When possible, modify existing equipment or change to new equipment.

Develop a plan

Any good energy management program needs support from people it will affect. If a congregation is interested in changing its energy expenses, they should come to consensus about the reason behind the changes, and what behaviors they are willing to change. Secondly, they should discuss how much capital outlay these changes would require.

ICE publications offer biblical arguments supporting energy efficiency and conservation as ethically, morally and fiscally responsible. For example, an article by Orin G. Gelderloos titled "Energy and the Bible" argues that humans are stewards of the earth and all that is in it—we should care for the earth out of concern for creation, not profit or benefit. Such philosophies and beliefs strongly support an energy management approach.

Implement operating changes

To change a congregation's energy consumption, you must change its behavior. ICE has documented churches reducing their energy use by 10 to 20 percent simply by getting the congregation to make behavior changes. Here are some ideas to think about.

• Schedule building use. This can be one of the most effective measures to reduce energy consumption. Since many church buildings are used sporadically, consolidating meetings to fewer days or evenings cuts down on the need to turn on the heat and lights. Meet in sunny rooms in the afternoon on cold days and shady ones in the morning on hot days. Use window coverings to reduce heat loss, as well as for shading on hot days.

• Use smaller rooms. Builders often sized church heating systems to operate only one day a week, so many are not zoned.  Moving your worship area from the sanctuary to a smaller part of the building could save a substantial amount of money. For the number of people currently attending services, use as small a room as will accommodate the number of people currently attending services, and heat it with a few space heaters rather than the boiler.

• Watch those open doors. How worshippers enter and exit a building can contribute to significant heat loss. A vestibule can serve as a buffer to outside temperatures, but not if the pastor greets parishioners in a waiting line that keeps both outer and inner doors open. A covered visiting area outside the building, or a reception line inside and slightly away from the door, may help.

• Decrease thermostat settings. ICE Project Manager Andy Rudin suggests that setting back your central heating system to 45 degrees should not compromise the contents of the church. ICE found that a 27-degree interior temperature swing is normal through the spring, summer and fall seasons, and does not hurt the contents. If done daily, that measure can save you about 1 percent on the heating bill for each degree of setback for an 8-hour period. For instance setting back the thermostat 10 degrees for 8-hours per day every day for a month, could reduce your monthly heating bill by about 10 percent.

• Talk to your utility. A utility rate schedule could offer significant savings, according to ICE. Often, churches operate mostly on "off peak" hours—times when a utility has less demand for electricity.  Some utilities give price breaks for energy used in evenings and on weekends.

Modify or upgrade systems

Investing in a new efficient system (whether it's lighting, heating or cooling) that is only used part of the time will not save as much as one used most of the time. In the big picture, simply practicing good conservation and efficiency may be a better choice. For example, replacing infrequently-used incandescent lamps with new and expensive compact fluorescent lamps—and sending the old lamps to a landfill—is more expensive and less environmentally sound than using old lamps efficiently.

When the time comes to install new lighting in your building, you will find that T-8 fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts provide energy savings and improved color rendering. If your fixtures are in good condition, you can reuse them by replacing lamps and ballasts. The Lighting Design Lab is a good resource for information on selecting and installing the right lighting for your needs.

If you have ballasts leaking polychlorinated biphenyls, you need to remove them from the building. Ballasts made before 1979 are likely to contain PCBs, and those manufactured without PCBs after July 1, 1978, must say so on the label.

PCBs appear as clear or yellow oil on the ballast surface. Do not touch it. Contact a trained professional, such as an electrical contractor, to remove leaking ballasts.

Additional Resources

• Energy Star for Congregations
• Ecumenical Church Loan Fund
• National Credit Union Administration