How Churches Can Conserve Energy

Churches are busy places. They are occupied every day of the week - not just Sundays. Churches these days have Awana Clubs, out-reach programs, prayer meetings, women's groups, Bible studies, Men's fellowship, Saturday prayer breakfasts. Not always is there concern about the electric bill.

As an exercise, the Budgetworks Energy Monitoring System was installed in a Chicago-area church. We are monitoring electricity coming into the building, electricity used by air conditioners and lighting. We also monitored Occupancy in the Sanctuary, and in the large meeting room.

10% Over Budget!
Based on its Energy Star rating this is a well-run building. However, the monitoring results show room for improvement. People were in the building from 6:00am to as late as 11:30pm. Because it is such a large part of the bill, we focused on getting better understanding of when the Air Conditioning equipment was ON. The Budgetworks System shows when air conditioners ran. It pointed out that there were times when the AC was ON and the building was empty, and also sometimes the AC was on all night.

Monthly Energy Use.
Having this information in a graphic form made it easier to spot waste and to educate people on the energy cost of leaving air conditioners on when the building was unused. In July - the first month of monitoring - $133 in unnecessary electricity expense was made.

The figure above shows some of the monitored points for a 24-hour period. From top to bottom, these are:
- Main electricity,
- Air conditioner electricity--[Note the AC was left on all night!]
- Outside air temperature,
- Fellowship Hall lighting, and
- Fellowship Hall occupancy.

The building's performance is summarized:

July Energy Use. $133 OVER budget for electricity.
August Energy Use. $289 OVER budget for electricity.
September Energy Use. $28 OVER budget for electricity.
October Energy Use. $9 OVER budget for electricity.
November Energy Use. $44 UNDER budget for electricity.
December Energy Use. $29 UNDER budget for electricity.
January Energy Use. $69 OVER budget for electricity.
February Energy Use. $9 UNDER budget for electricity.

To see what's happening right now, contact Jim for log-in credentials (jmcnally@mcnallyengineers.com). Then click Here.
For more info on Budgetworks click here.

Churches can conserve energy by making changes in how the building is operated. Operational savings occur when a building is operated more efficiently. Building operations focuses on what equipment and lighting is turned on and when. Regarding Building Operations, my philosophy is simple:

"When spaces are occupied, they should be well-lit and at temperature.
When spaces are empty, lights should be off, and temperatures should revert to plant-protection levels."

I've seen that energy use can be reduced by about 10% by matching heating, cooling, and lighting use with space occupancy.

What's 10% of your church's energy bill?
To see how your church building an be operated more efficiently, click here.