Lyons, IL
St. John’s Church Council and their Green Facilities Team reduced their worship facilities carbon footprint by 20% or 4.8 tons annually through investing in “negawatts”. Negawatts are the kilowatts you save when you reduce your energy use through energy efficiency and energy conservation. It’s the cheapest, quickest, cleanest way to reduce your carbon footprint.
They cut their energy bills by almost 50% by insulating their roof and adding new thermal insulated skylights to tighten the building and keep the conditioned air from leaking out. They upgraded their air conditioning and supplemental heating system, and employed occupancy sensors and programmable thermostats to regulate them so they only heat and cool the rooms when needed. In addition they switched to LED lighting. Overall they reduce their electricity bill by 70% and their gas bill by 30%.
They hope that the certification as a Cool Congregation will inspire the congregation to pursue further projects – a rooftop garden to grow vegetables or a prairie style garden to provide green space and reduce heat island effects, or a 20 kW solar farm.
Insulated roof and new insulated skylights
