It's Christmas Day and about time I gave an update on what's been going on with Mayflower UCC's goal to become carbon neutral. This month Mayflower has been undergoing physical building updates that will reduce the church building's carbon footprint by up to 35% by the end of January! The updates include lighting motion sensors, a new controls system for our heating and cooling, ventilation upgrades, a new rooftop unit, the sealing of leaks in the building envelop, and other more minor updates. The light motion sensors are by far the most visible part of this phase of our goal to become carbon neutral, but the sealing of the building envelop has also created noticeable thermal comfort throughout the building as well as a reduction in energy use! The day after we had a blower door test completed, which helps identify air leaks in the building, and the leaks sealed we could already tell the building was warmer and needed to turn down the heat!
In the works are a system of 200 solar panels on the church roof and the purchase of renewable energy or carbon offsets to make up for the portion of energy we are not able to reduce or produce ourselves. By 2014 Mayflower will have reduced it's carbon footprint by up to 60%!
There are a number of details behind this work, but in general here are the steps we have take so far:
1) Have an energy audit of the church building completed
2) Create a plan to reach carbon neutral by 2030 with the help of a professional energy systems organization
3) Connect with resources around the Twin Cities and within our own congregation which can help us reach our goal (including a successful Capital Appeal)
4) Get bids for construction work, sign contracts, and share the good news of our energy reduction progress!
If you are interested in going carbon neutral at church, home, or work, I encourage you to begin with a full-scale energy audit which includes a blower door test and detailed information on what you can do to reduce your energy usage and produce your own renewable energy or get tapped into renewable energy resources.
