Solar panels are growing on Presbyterian congregations across the country. Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City was recognized for its array in 2016.
Is your congregation curious about energy efficiency and/or renewable energy? Have you heard about the financial resources, tax incentives and pathways provided by this year’s legislation passed through the U.S. Congress for some of these kinds of projects?
While not all congregations will be able to make use of these resources, some may be able to use opportunities now while others could use some of these ideas to plan for the future. These aren’t the easiest resources to figure out how to access. Thus, we are grateful for experts, organizations and friends who’ve shared ideas of how to make good use of these offerings.
In addition to the curated list below, you can find other great webinars from Interfaith Power and Light (https://www.youtube.com/@InterfaithPowerandLightOrg/videos) as well as Presbyterians for Earth Care (https://www.youtube.com/@presbyteriansforearthcare420/videos) to help in your learning.
Webinars and Web Sites for more information
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a67_a115zT8 Holy Heat Pumps! explained how heat pumps work and how to lower the costs for installation at your congregations with the new government funds available to congregations for the first time.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI3g4RWBQ94 Tools & Resources to Green Congregations webinar covers the ways houses of worship and religious institutions can update their facilities to become more energy efficient and save on their energy bills. Also, important information regarding first-time federal funding available to nonprofits to support investment in energy efficiency and renewables
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEJI46YHfLA&t=11s Summer Solstice Webinar on Solar Financing. Learn about the different ways congregations can finance solar from Jerry Bernstein, author of IPL’s Solar Financing for Congregations. Then we’ll take a deeper look at one of the options that allow a congregation to install solar with no up-front costs, called power purchase agreements.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XqhCX24bg PEC webinar on Federal Funding Resources for Houses of Worship with Tiffany Hartung
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v12FcVckEx8 to save money on church energy bills.
- A follow-up website is https://interfaithpowerandlight.org/federal-funding/. It’s a lot of content but this spreadsheet might be particularly helpful to you as it has things broken down by types of work: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DbYLQBd4Qib-T4alnIi2prIzDfzNC1aKfJ7e3Ws8kRE/edit#gid=1634650647/.
- Website explains sort of what is covered by the “direct pay” that’s referenced on IPLS page https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1533 and this FAQ may also be useful: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NaFCxvt9UwD2lHrxsAxTswQju4NSGVjztqmSp2LSzhY/edit.
In addition to these webinars and web sites about public funding and tips for saving energy and money, a reminder about the Restoring Creation Loan https://pilp.pcusa.org/restoring-creation-loan/ from Presbyterian Investment and Loan! Many congregations have made use of this great resource as a way to get started.
The work of the Presbyterian Hunger Program is possible thanks to your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.