Louisville, KY
Certified Cool Congregation, 20% carbon reduction
How many church members does it take to change a lightbulb? Quite a few it turns out, especially when it’s not just one lightbulb, but 86, and especially when those lightbulbs are high above the sanctuary floor and you need to rent a lift. And especially when the replacement bulbs are LEDs and a bit costly. But all of this was well worth it according to the Green Sanctuary Committee at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church in Louisville, because with every 90W halogen bulbs they replaced with a 16W LED bulb, they had 82% energy savings. Over the course of the year, that adds up to a 20% carbon reduction — which added up to 1-ton of CO2 emissions reduction and $1,100 in cost savings that can be used elsewhere. The project was funded by 46 members and friends of TJUC volunteering 287 man-hours at a local music festival, recycling scrap metal, cleaning up a razed church facility, and by holding an LED bulb campaign, sponsored by the Green Sanctuary Committee of TJUC. In total, $4,951 was raised for the project. TJUC strives to initiate and implement energy saving ideas around the church so they can “walk the walk” as role models. The UU seventh principle states: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church’s new LED sanctuary lighting in place
