Church Slashes Utility Bills

When the boiler failed in an Edmonton church one winter Sunday, a chilled congregation jump-started a campaign to replace the aging appliance. Before they knew it, they had started down the path of an eco-renovation that has shaved the church's utility costs by more than $13,000 a year.

St. Andrew's United Church had a problem that perplexes many churches in Canada today - how to maintain a large, declining building that was erected when energy was cheap and plentiful. St. Andrew's consists of a 1960s-era sanctuary and adjoining building that, prior to the renovation, was costing $36,000 a year in utility bills.

Luckily, the congregation had four retired men in its midst - Ian Burn, Bruce Woodhouse, Davis Farquharson and Brian Walker - who brought skills in energy efficiency, engineering and hammer wielding to the boiler replacement project. Dubbed the "boiler room boys", they did their own energy audit, discovering their old cast-iron steam boiler was less than 50 per cent efficient.

"The church had to raise $76,000 for the new system," recalls Ian Burn, who had spent over 17 years working at Alberta's Energy Conservation Branch. "They had dinners, talent shows, auctions."

With the help of an $11,000 federal grant the church replaced the ailing boiler with an 85-per-cent-efficient model, and six 95-per-cent-efficient furnaces to heat an adjoining building containing a daycare and preschool.

Burn created a control panel that monitors 18 zones within the two buildings by computer. "By monitoring it, you can fine tune it," he says. That way, when the book club meets on Thursday night, only their meeting area is heated, rather than the whole sanctuary.

"Churches are often vacant for periods of time, so it's important to figure out how much space you're heating, to what temperature and how that space is being used," says Burn.

The congregation went on to form an environmental committee to explore other ways to reduce St. Andrew's environmental impact. Incandescent flood lights in the 40-foot ceiling of the sanctuary often burned out and needed replacement, a dangerous task for a volunteer on a ladder. They were replaced by T5 fluorescent fixtures, "giving us twice as much light with half as much electricity," he adds.

Burn has these tips for organizations looking to increase the efficiency of their buildings:

• "Get a handle on how you use your energy," he says. "You can learn a lot from your utility bills."
• Look at your lighting, he suggests. "Get rid of incandescents and put in CFLs."
• Make sure your heating system is operating as efficiently as possible.
• Try to heat only the space you use.
• Look for cold air leaks around windows and doors.
• Replace building components and appliances with the most energy efficient options possible.
• Get everyone involved.