solarchurches sa - blog

What can the church do to reduce its carbon footprint?

2011-04-25T17:30:00.003+09:30

Stephen Webb talks about where the churches should be going to make a real difference in their ecological footprint and what some churches are already doing. . . .

In a report to Synod Standing Committee (Uniting Church in NSW) last November, David Freeman, Chair of the Mid North Coast Presbytery, said, “Travel concerns us greatly, not only as wasted time — for example, seven hours on the notorious Pacific Highway for a 20-minute presentation — but also how can it be done smarter with technology, such as video conferencing and Skype, thus minimising the environmental demand of the church footprint?”

The Rev. Elenie Poulos, National Director of UnitingJustice Australia, also thinks it’s time that the church’s councils thought hard about travel and meetings.

“Some of it — the meetings — we need to do: we are in the relationship business after all and we need to share meals, grasp hands and physically stand next to each in solidarity and friendship.

“But I don’t think we need to do it as much as we think we do. I’m sure we can be more efficient and more focused.”

Ms Poulos said, “We can certainly reorganise some of our business pretty easily around Web 2.0, video-conferencing and so on if we bite the bullet on the necessary building, infrastructure, IT services and software costs.

“It will pay for itself in the long run.”

She said the Assembly office did a carbon audit a few years ago and realised that, without travel, the Assembly had a tiny footprint.

“Travel is, then, the big one for us.”

That point was highlighted by Dr Steve Douglas, a consultant ecologist and researcher in religion and ecology, who prepared a report for the Assembly in response to its carbon audit and the document For the sake of the planet and all its people: A Uniting Church in Australia statement on climate change.

He found that the impacts of the Assembly’s heavy use of air travel were such that they undermined the intent of mission work and church fellowship and the Assembly’s credibility in advocating for carbon pollution abatement within and beyond the church.

He recommended that the Assembly undertake a comprehensive assessment of the extent to which staff needed to fly in order to meet their work objectives.

“The issue is one of distance, not nationality,” he said. “The aim is to minimise if not eliminate air travel or indeed any sort of fossil-fuelled travel.”

He also recommended reducing motor-vehicle related emissions, “Green” purchasing and ethically screened investments.

Dr Douglas said, “The churches have worked out that capitalism is the ecological equivalent of parasitism but at some point they are going to need to move beyond the relatively comfortable game of formulating sensible policy statements that direct others how to do things.

“They need to translate their commendable policies into institutional action — they have to be seen to lead by example.

“Until they are prepared to put eco-justice before the narrowly-perceived interests of the institutional church, there will remain plenty of scope for others to dismiss the church’s progressive policy statements as hollow rhetoric.”

Dr Douglas is keen to point out the contradictions between environmentalist sentiment and policy and the challenge of changing lifestyles.

The issues are similar for Christian denominations, other faiths and organisations in the secular domain, he says.

Dr Douglas and Dr Almut Beringer, from Monash University’s Sustainability Institute, last year submitted a journal article dealing with the question of whether international religious gatherings and academic conferences on pro-environmental themes could be justified given the huge carbon emissions associated with participants’ use of aviation.

Using the 2009 Parliament of World Religions as a case study, they asked how organisers and auditors might thoroughly assess the costs and benefits of such events. They raised the issue of carbon offsets and the fact that most such schemes had ethical and technical limitations, including revegetation-based schemes that took decades to sequester the carbon emitted in a few hours of air travel — they were just too slow.

Climate justice

In November last year a consultation on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Europe, organised by the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches in cooperation with churches in Hungary, adopted a “Budapest Call for Climate Justice”.

Some 80 representatives of churches and church-related agencies working on poverty reduction and development discussed the links between the creation and accumulation of wealth on the one hand and ecological damage and poverty on the other.

The group’s final statement says that climate justice and therefore both social and ecological values should be a central goal of policy making.

The EU was asked to live up to its ambitions with regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions independent of policies by other large economies.

Participants in the consultation called for the joint preparation of a global ecumenical conference to propose a framework and criteria for a new international financial and economic architecture that is based on the principles of economic, social and climate justice.

Dr Douglas responded, “How often do international church organisations fall into the trap of ‘flying around the world to save it’!

“How often do participants instead consider holding a series of regional meetings, which they can attend by using public transport, linked by internet conferencing, rather than doing the tired old thing of sticking everyone in one room?”

He said conferencing software now allowed for nodal and regional conferencing formats and some universities that specialised in distance education already used it to good effect.

“The churches and other faith organisations are only beginning to catch up with the progressive parts of secular society. They still tend to think that they’re on the radical, cutting edge of pushing for eco-justice when, in most cases, they’re at least a decade or more behind the wider movement.”

Of the Catholic Church’s approach to the environment he has said, “The current and past Pope have advocated for a reduction in carbon emissions and consumer lifestyles to minimise impacts on ‘Creation’, particularly on the many poor people who are suffering and are likely to suffer further because of global climate change.

“Such teachings were apparently forgotten by the reportedly 8,000 Australians who flew to Rome for recent Canonisation of Mary MacKillop. A return flight from Melbourne to Rome generates roughly 10.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per person — roughly three times the supposedly sustainable three tonne per person annual carbon budget.

“Multiply that by 8,000 and you have a lot of greenhouse gases emitted for a religious ceremony that in part celebrates the worthy deeds of a woman dedicated to serving the human poor.”

But Dr Douglas is no more sympathetic regarding the Uniting Church’s addiction to air travel, questioning a presumption that its activities are of a nature that justifies the carbon emissions associated with staff’s use of aviation; that those works are “special” in a religious sense and thus exempt from ecological ethical scrutiny.

He asked if staff really needed to attend international ecumenical and multi-faith events in person. Did the notional benefits to the Uniting Church outweigh the ecological and even the economic costs?

“Do staff really need to attend international mission projects, or can the church sensibly delegate authority to local supervisors, or perhaps just fund agencies with adequate supervision and project management of their own?”

Wouldn’t it be better, he wondered, to use the funds currently spent on international air travel to achieve more tangible benefits consistent with the church’s mission, both locally and internationally?

Ecological conversion

As Dr Douglas observes, God is putting down a mighty carbon footprint in Australia. But the churches are attempting to lighten God’s tread.

The Catholic Church is attempting a carbon audit of thousands of churches and parish buildings, about 1,500 schools and more than 300 hospitals and aged-care facilities.

Catholic Earthcare Australia is offering a low-cost, automated data collection tool for tracking, monitoring, benchmarking and reporting each Catholic organisation’s ecological footprint.

It is aimed at developing a spirituality of communion, ecological conversion and sustainability.

Thea Ormerod, President of Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, said ARRCC would love to see it accepted as normal that faith communities take action to reduce their carbon footprints.

“Although it cannot honestly be said that this is the general practice yet in Australia, a range of faith communities and religious organisations have taken steps to reduce their carbon footprints.

“A stellar role model is the Uniting Church community in Maroubra Junction with its Project Green Church initiative.”

To encourage widespread recognition that caring for the environment is part of an authentic religious life, ARRCC promotes the work of individual faith communities and religious organisations.

At its 2010 Eco-Awards night, prize-winners included Caloundra Uniting Church in Queensland, the al-Ghazzali Centre in Lakemba and the Anglican Diocese of Canberra/Goulburn.

Ms Poulos thought it would be impossible for the Uniting Church to conduct a church-wide audit. But she knew synods were working on it in various ways.

Stephen Webb is Deputy Editor of Insights and Media Officer for the Synod of New South Wales and the ACT.

http://www.unitingearthweb.org.au

A vision realised

2010-02-25T15:21:00.000+10:30

At last I have seen two churches in Adelaide with solar voltaic cells on the roof. The churches of Galway Avenue, Broadview Uniting and St Philip's Anglican dedicated their solar panels yesterday before a combined audience from both churches and guests from afar. A member of the Prospect Council spoke, the Mayor unfortunately being unavoidably absent, about the support provided by the council in the submission process for funding from the Federal Government. Then the Rev Caroline Pearce (Anglican) led the prayers of dedication for the Broadview UC panels. The group then walked across the road to St Philips and gathered in view of the other set of panels. The Rev Rebecca Purling (Uniting Church) led the prayers for the St Philip's Anglican panels. A number of us then entered the church and viewed the inverter.

I have emailed Rebecca and requested a copy of the prayers which I shall hopefully add here.

Rev Rebecca Purling and Rev Caroline Pearce

Clean power from the sun.

Sign outside St Philip's Anglican Church

Ecumenical Solar Panel Launch

2010-02-02T21:45:00.002+10:30

The churches of Galway Avenue are launching their photovoltaic cells on
TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2010 at 3pm:
In the courtyard of Broadview Uniting Church
(61 Galway Avenue)
followed by afternoon tea at St Philip's Anglican Church
(84 Galway Avenue)
His worship Mayor David O’Loughlin, the Mayor of Prospect will conduct the launch.

Broadview Uniting Church

St Philip's Anglican Church

RSVP Friday 19th February for catering purposes
For further enquires or to RSVP please contact
Rev Rebecca Purling on 8342 1583
Anethea Ulvestad on 0417 084 414 (messages only)

Matrix Tool to assist Uniting Church properties

2009-10-27T16:29:00.017+10:30

The Uniting Church in South Australia has commissioned a tool to assist Uniting Church congregations to plan for and / or review energy use in their buildings. The tool is available on a CD and when loaded onto a computer will provide advice, particular to the site, to congregations about how to minimise their energy footprint.

Further information on the tool, how to use it and availability can be obtained from the Synod Office: 8227 0822 or go to http://resources.sa.uca.org.au/environment.html for downloads and information on purchasing the CD.

Other resources available from the Uniting Church as pdf file downloads are:
* Resources for increasing the energy & water efficiency of church properties - booklet
* Reducing Energy Consumption in the Home – booklet

Will $10,000 loans be available for manses?

2009-06-16T23:04:00.003+09:30

On July 1, the Federal Government's new interest free loans scheme will begin. details and eligibilty information can be found on the Department of Environment.... website at http://www.environment.gov.au/greenloans/index.html.

It would seem on my reading that church manses would be eligible for the interest free loan of four years. If not repaid by that time, market interest rates kick in. This may be of assistance to churches wanting to ease their cash flow and achieve energy savings in the manse?

Let us know if anyone follows this up.

Gross Metering Needed?

2009-06-16T22:43:00.003+09:30

Michelle Drummond, a member of this group, has joined Phoenix Solar as sales manager and has contributed the following article which argues the need for gross metering if solar is to progress in Australia. Currently our churches are finding the solar option a little too hard, but the opportunity to share in a solar farm concept is gaining some interest. Over to Michelle................

A world in which renewable energies help to secure a higher standard and quality of living is our world

Solar power has established itself internationally as a safe and sustainable source which will meet our future electricity needs. There will be no toxic legacy for future generations as an operating solar power system produces zero waste. Even the payback period on the energy used to produce individual modules has been set at a moderate 5 years, with many companies now incorporating end-of-life recycling to further reduce energy and resource use.

Good environmental sense aside, considerable debate continues about the ability of solar power to meet the increasing power demands of Australians.

German-based Phoenix Solar, a leading European Solar company which plans, builds and operates large photovoltaic plants and is a specialist wholesaler for complete power plants, solar modules and accessories, has no such doubts about the future of the Australian Industry, having recently established its Adelaide-based subsidiary, Phoenix Solar Pty Ltd.

Managing Director Christian Bindel cites Germany’s commitment to its solar industry as a stunning example of what we can achieve in Australia. According to the Germany Ministry for the Environment, solar power produced 4000 GWh (4000 million kWh) of electricity in 2008, allowing over 1 million German households to use an average of 9.87 units/kWh per day each (this correlates to a bill of approximately $180 AUD per quarter) and reducing carbon production by 4 million tons. And all this from a country with shorter summers and snow which covers the panels in winter. The average output from a German solar system is less than two thirds of the Australian average!

However, the German success story is directly related to good Government policy. Crucially, the implementation of a generous Gross Feed-in-Tariff enabled the steady and sustainable development of the industry independent of government support, resulting in substantial investment from business, industry, and the residential market.

In Australia only the ACT has instituted a Gross Feed-in-Tariff, and while many other States offer a reasonable buy back of excess power generated there is still no real incentive for larger investment.
Australia needs to adopt a Gross Feed in Tariff and institute legislation that requires renewable energy to form an integral part of any building process.

• Gross metering will allow commercial investors to create secure investment strategies, thereby encouraging private investment in large scale projects. Independent of government cash rebates and other funding programs, a budget-neutral industry will open up and stand on its own merits.

• Planning certainty for industry participants will enable a strong and sustainable Australian market to be created. Currently, single project opportunities appear, companies with the capability move in, do the work, and then withdraw from the Australian market taking skills and knowledge with them.

Michelle Drummond, Sales Manager for Phoenix Solar Pty Ltd, states ‘The solutions we institute today need to create a safe and sustainable future. Inappropriate solutions will leave a long lasting and toxic legacy for our future generations’.

Green Church Workshop

2009-04-01T15:28:00.007+10:30

Green Church Workshop
Uniting Church in SA World Environment Day Event
Friday June 5th
12:45pm for 1:00pm. Concluding 3pm.
Tanner and Waters Rooms, 212 Pirie Street, Adelaide.

Learn how to:
conduct an energy audit for your church or home,
save money on your power and water bills,
go green at home.

Who can attend: Uniting church ministers, members, Regional Property Advisors, church council members, Treasurers, property officers.

Solar Churches Project Process

2009-03-24T12:07:00.009+10:30

PROJECT CONCEPT
This is a document in process. Please comment or bring ideas to the meetings. Thanks to Peter Follett for his facilitation work with our group.

Situation Analysis
There is a moral dilemma facing Christians around climate and creation. We are stewards of the earth, however we are conscious that how we live is damaging the planet. We cannot with clear conscience continue to live in this way: we have a moral responsibility to begin to abate our impact on our environment.

We are also conscious that, although a minority of citizens' attitudes are shifting, our cultural imperatives and political systems have long mitigated against a timely response to the environmental, economic and moral challenges we face.

Our intention is to be a force for environmental good in the Adelaide society. We want to have an influential voice that the government will recognize and hear. However for Government, and the wider population, to take our message seriously we must first get our own houses in order. The goal of this initiative is to create a situation where we can build that influence.

Project Statement:
As a result of this project by 31 December 2011 fifty churches in the Adelaide area will have eliminated their direct carbon footprint, in part by utilising Solar Power, and will be active in a coalition influencing moral views, social advancement and economic development toward a more sustainable human lifestyle.

Phases
The project will be implemented in overlapping phases:

1. Pilot
To achieve a 'quick win' and set a standard and example for other churches and congregations the approach will be reserached and developed, with implementation first through the Blackwood and Uniting Churches (BBUC). As this pilot proceeds, the approach and outcomes will be communicated to other churches interested in this project. Lessons learned in the Pilot will enable improvements to the approach.
2. Church Expansion
As the Pilot progresses, or after it is completed, the lessons learned and the successes gained in the Pilot will be used to influence other churches to join the project, modify their energy consumption and reduce their carbon footprint.
3. Congregation Expansion
As the Pilot progresses, or after it is completed, the lessons learned and the successes gained in the Pilot will be used to influence BBUC congregation members other those of other churches joining the project to modify their energy consumption and reduce their personal carbon footprint.
4. Social Influence
The lessons learned and momentum from this project will provide leverage to motivated church goers to influence the SA government to adopt policies that will contribute to reducing the state's punbic and provate carbon footprints: government departments and organisations and domestic and commercial emissions.

Objectives

Pilot

Our goals for the pilot phase are that at the Blackwood and Belair Uniting Churches:

Church
1. The BBUC internal carbon footprints will have reduced to zero by using solar panels, solar water and green energy.
2. The direct financial cost of energy consumption will be equal to or less than of the BBUC through the 2008-09 financial year.

Congregation
A majority of BBUC congregation members’ will:
3. Understand the link between the BBUC operations and their personal lifestyle, and the financial costs and effects on the environment and climate of the consumption of energy and the sources and types of energy utilised.
4. Support the BBUC drive to eliminate their internal carbon emissions.
5. Be aware of feasible pathways toward reducing their personal energy costs and carbon footprint.

Social Influence
6. To build a critical mass of moral influence, to cause gov’t to adopt more climate friendly policies
7. Enable disadvantaged people to afford reducing their carbon footprint

Financial Viability
8. The approach will be financially viable so that at worst the developments will achieve financial break even within 10 years.

Project Approach

Energy Audit	Solar PVC Panels - Cost + Symbol +
Reduce Consumption	Solar Hot Water +
Reduce Costs	Green Energy
Financial break even	= Reduce footprint

One pilot church reduces its carbon footprint (by using solar panels, solar water and green energy) to reduce its carbon footprint.

Moral Dilemma
Develop a succinct and persuasive ethical argument

Ethical Investment
Develop a moral + financial vision of the future: environmentally sustainable and financially viable.

Energy Audit
Find resources for auditing / reporting

Solar PVC Panels - Cost + Symbol
Where community can see them.
Get details of Gvt Subsidy Program
Seek tenders for 'bulk' purchase and installation
Who has best deal for feed in tariffs

Reduce Consumption
Develop methods for identifying effective behaviour change
Low hanging fruit
Harder gains

Solar Hot Water
Get details of Gvt Subsidy Program

Green Energy
Discover who sells 'green energy'
Obtain details of green energy rebate program.

Reduce Costs
Methods to calculate what cost- reduction required to break even

Financial break even
Develop business case spreadsheet, adaptable to different size churches.

Reduce Carbon Footprint
Specify obligations in return for receiving Government or other funding.
Bike Racks

Signage
Where community see it - Logo
Wording of sign = meaning
CO2 Meters

Panels = Symbol = not the solution but symbols of the solution

Catalyst for Community

Ethical Investment

Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre

2009-03-17T09:48:00.006+10:30

Last night we had a presentation from Christian Bindel, Managing Director of "Phoenix Solar". Part of his presentation showcased the Desert Knowledge Solar Centre near Alice Springs. What is unique about this setting is the ability to compare the different solar technologies and types of solar cells available. I quote from the website:

"The Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre is a $3.1M initiative of Desert Knowledge Australia that showcases and demonstrates a range of solar power technologies in commercial-scale installations.

These installations provide meaningful and accurate comparisons of the performance of the technologies' in the arid environment of Central Australia, improving the knowledge base for solar initiatives globally.

A range of different manufacturers and suppliers have chosen to demonstrate their technologies at the site. While some of the technologies have been widely used within Australia, many of theinstallations use technologies that are new to Australia. Different mounting technologies are also demonstrated."

Click on the Live System Information box above the menu to go to the section where you can compare the different technologies. Thin film appears to be the best but the panels are a little larger and this need to be taken into account when planning an installation on a limited roof space.

http://www.dkasolarcentre.com.au/

Solar panels on Vatican hall first of several projects, says engineer

2008-11-18T12:19:00.001+10:30

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
Aug-29-2008

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican will begin installing some 2,400 solar panels in late September, the first of several projects aimed at exploiting renewable energy resources in the tiny city-state.

The solar modules, which are being donated by a German company, will be fitted atop the roof of the Paul VI audience hall and will produce some 300,000 kilowatt-hours of power each year, said Mauro Villarini, the Vatican engineer coordinating the project.

Construction of the solar-energy system will continue through October, while Pope Benedict XVI and some 250 bishops meet inside the audience hall for a synod on the Bible.

In an interview Aug. 28 with the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Villarini said another solar-panel system would be installed this fall above the Vatican's employee cafeteria, providing 60 percent to 70 percent of the power needed to heat and cool the building.

Both solar-energy systems are expected to be operating by the end of the year, Villarini said.In addition, he said, Vatican experts were studying other "green" projects that may be particularly suited to Vatican City and its properties outside Rome, including the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

They include the possibility of small windmills, as well as treatment plants that would break down biodegradable material to produce methane and biogas, he said.

Villarini said the solar panels atop the audience hall would furnish enough power to meet the annual energy needs of about 100 families.

Even so, he said, the system will not come close to meeting the energy demands of the huge building, which uses some 2 million kilowatt-hours of power every year.

The important thing, he said, is that it is a first, major step toward energy self-sufficiency.The European Union has set a target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable resources by the year 2020.

"Our challenge is to make sure Vatican City State is the first to meet these European objectives," Villarini said.

He said the Vatican's ecological initiatives were born out of a series of talks given by Pope Benedict, who said at the beginning of 2007 that humanity cannot continue its present patterns of exploiting natural resources.

END
Source: CNS http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804426.htm

Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) Website

2008-11-18T11:54:00.002+10:30

For those interested, here is the web address for the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARCCC), which aims to provide a space for people of faith to address climate change (stopping its causes and dealing with the impacts it has already unleashed) and to engage in efforts at multiple levels, from the local right up to the global:
http://www.arrcc.org.au/

The question is solar or green energy?

2008-10-25T20:26:00.000+10:30

We opened with prayer and then agreed to two tasks this evening.

First: Mike and Michelle would share their data on the affordability of solar energy.
Mike began by sharing the information on costs based on a system that was $12,000 per KW. Based on 3.8 kw / day being produced it didn’t turn out to be cost effective over the life of the system.

However, Michelle shared information about new panels that produce 5kw hours per day. She is going to try to get information that verifies those numbers for the next meeting as it improves the numbers by 25%.

So we are still unsure whether the best way forward is through solar panels or purchasing green energy.

Certainly for churches like Blackwood who have very high usage and electricity demand solar panels make no sense but for a church like Belair that has very little daily use the panels may pay for themselves in as little as seven years. We will continue to wrestle with these ideas and numbers to see where the tipping point is.

Two concerns about solar systems are the costs associated with inverter replacement every 8-10 years and diminishing panel productivity after 30 years.

Second task that we looked at was clarity of purpose for this group.
Peter led us in trying to understand where we have evolved to.

**50 churches to reduce carbon footprint (by using solar panels) we have now realized that solar panels may not be the best way to reduce the carbon footprint.
Increase/improve congregations’ understanding and awareness of the link between energy and carbon footprint
Giving people feasible pathways toward reducing their energy costs and carbon footprint
To build a crtical mass of moral influence, to cause gov’t to adopt more climate friendly policies
Enable disadvantaged people to afford reducing their carbon footprint

** this is what we want to achieve. The other pieces flow out of it.

Peter F, Ian and anyone else who is interested will be meeting on Monday November 3 from 2:30 – 5:30pm to further this plan.

So next all group meeting Is Monday November 17 at 7:30pm

Why focus on Solar?

2008-09-20T15:15:00.007+09:30

Global warming is a genuine environmental crisis confronting our planet home. It poses serious moral issues that the churches can no longer ignore. Our man-made crisis is causing serious extinctions in species and exponential increases in pollution and poverty. Our children face a grim future in many areas unless we are ready to act now. This crisis is now documented by major international research and reports. It is time for churches to take the lead and model responsibility for healing the planet.

Aims
It was proposed that we form a coalition of Adelaide churches to:

Install solar power green energy on a minimum of 50 Adelaide church roofs.
Pursue a sector agreement with the government to promote solar energy options in our churches and communities.
Raise awareness and hope within church congregations and neighbourhoods about taking action on climate change.
Reinforce SA government initiatives to make Adelaide a ‘solar city’ and campaign for investment in large passive solar power stations that will complement the current green energy for SA and provide energy beyond state borders.

WHY focus on solar?
Solar is clean: no pollution, emissions or waste!
Solar is accessible: there is plenty of sunshine in Australia!
Solar is viable: the technology already exists!
Solar is affordable: new models pay their way and more!

It is this last point on which the group is currently engaged. It would appear that "affordable" may not be so. There are a variety of ways of looking at this. At our next face to face meeting we hope to explore the issue of affordability further. Meanwhile comment is invited.

Thank you

2008-09-18T09:47:00.001+09:30

Thank you to those who have established this blog. Looking forward to developing the discussion and further insights.

What we are About

2008-08-19T11:49:00.000+09:30

The Solar Churches SA group has commenced thinking about how to persuade local churches to adopt "green" solutions to their energy needs and at the same time make a statement regarding care for God's world.