Last month, the diocesan Creation Care and Environmental Justice Commission (CCEJ) awarded 57 congregations with grants of up to $10,000 for projects that will improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. The grant funds, a total of $500,000, were made available by the Trustees of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, which announced an Energy Efficiency Initiative in 2021. An additional $125,000 in no-or low-interest loans was also awarded.
The projects made possible by the grants range from higher efficiency furnaces and air conditioners and controls to storm windows, retrofitted LED lighting, ceiling insulation, and a higher efficiency dishwasher.
Four members of the CCEJ– Ken Wright, Catherine Duffy, the Rev. Craig Foster, and Ariel Miller—oversaw the grants process. Wright took the lead, and the group consulted regularly with the Rev. David Getreu, canon for finance and budget.
“The awarding of these 57 parishes equate to at least 60 percent of building square footage in the diocese,” Deacon Craig Foster, co-chair of the CCEJ Commission, said. “In aggregate, the parishes are predicted to have a 3.9 percent reduction in energy costs, providing $25,222 per year of funds for ministry of the churches and 662 metric tons per year of greenhouse gas emission reduction, equaling taking 147 cars off the road or planting 11,000 trees.” In addition, he said, congregations are investing a total of $623,998 of their own funds on the energy-efficient projects.
During the grant application period, the CCEJ leadership team contacted every congregation in the diocese to urge them to apply and worked with congregations that needed assistance in identifying energy-efficient improvements to make, conducting site visits as needed. The commission will stay in touch with congregations that have received grants, helping them sign up for Energy Stewards, a web-based platform that tracks energy use and energy reduction over time, and assisting with fulfilling other requirements of the grant.
“The program is a win for parishes, because the higher efficiency equipment decreases their operating costs, and it is a win for our planet, because it reduces pollution emissions,” Wright said.
“We are encouraged that not only will these grants allow parishes across our diocese to lower their energy usage, we are also seeing that these awards have sparked a broader discussion about caring better for God’s Creation across our diocese,” Duffy, co-chair of the CCEJ Commission, said.
The Diocese of Southern Ohio’s convention has asked its congregations to conserve energy for more than a decade. Resolution R2012-03 encouraged parishes “to respond to climate change through faith-based stewardship of creation by promoting energy conservation and energy efficiency” and to reduce energy use 15 percent from 2011 baseline levels by 2015. Last year, convention approved resolutions R2022-08, asking congregations to consider divesting from fossil fuels, and R2022-09, urging congregations to “engage the topic of care of creation and environmental injustices.”
“Every effort the parishes of the Diocese of Southern Ohio make to limit emissions will contribute to lowering the effects of climate change,” Foster said. “We know that these changes will impact marginalized communities in disproportionately greater ways. It is efforts like the Energy Efficiency Grant program that will help us do our part as we work to realize the goals of Becoming Beloved Community and honor our Baptismal Covenant to ‘strive for justice and peace among all people,’ and respect ‘the dignity of every human being.’”
