IPL congratulates these awesome Runner Ups for their amazing work in caring for our common home! IPL awards each of these Runner Ups with $500 and a certificate of their achievement. We hope their stories will inspire others to follow their example.
Community Inspiration
Tabernacle Baptist Church, Dermott, Arkansas
Tabernacle Baptist Church won the Community Inspiration award for educating members how to offset utility costs by using energy-efficient light bulbs, power strips, and weatherization to lower electric bills. Tabernacle Baptist Church is handing out approximately 4,000 LED bulbs per year – saving 77 tons of carbon emissions annually.
Brea Congregational United Church of Christ, Brea, CA
Brea Congregational United Church of Christ won the Community Inspiration award for their educational Sustainable Living Fair drawing over 500 attendees and featuring speakers on environmental topics. The church has installed solar and native xeriscaping to cut water use.
First Plymouth Congregational Church, Lincoln, NE
First Plymouth Congregational Church won the Community Inspiration award for educating their members about climate change and sustainable solutions, and for their co-leadership of Faith to Forest, an effort by 29 Lincoln faith communities to plant trees and educate about the importance of trees to community health.
Cool Planner
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Port Angeles, WA
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church won the Cool Planner award for their plan to upgrade their heating and cooling system to a low-emissions heat pump, saving 6 tons of carbon emissions, and for their innovative hands-on education showing congregants how to reduce their energy use at home.
New Providence Presbyterian Church, Maryville, TN
New Providence Presbyterian Church won the Cool Planner award for their plans for an organic vegetable garden to support their free weekly meals service they provide to the wider community.
St. Louis Catholic Church, Tallahassee, FL
St. Louis Catholic Church won the Cool Planner award for their plans to reduce their carbon footprint by 12 tons through native landscaping and energy efficiency improvements to their facility.
Electric Vehicle
First Presbyterian Church, Conway, AR
First Presbyterian Church won the Electric Vehicle Leader award for their EV demo day where they handed out helpful educational information on EVs including incentives and environmental and health impacts.
Mid Kentucky Presbytery, Louisville, KY
Mid Kentucky Presbytery won the Electric Vehicle Leader award for helping eight congregations in Kentucky install fee-free EV charging stations, partnering with Evolve Kentucky for technical support. They hope to inspire others to follow their example and install EV charging stations.
Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, AR
Second Presbyterian Church won the Electric Vehicle Leader award for their EV demo day and their two solar powered EV chargers offered free to the community.
Energy Saver
Unitarian Church of Barnstable, Barnstable, MA
Unitarian Church of Barnstable won the Energy Saver award for creating a greener, healthier church while restoring their historic structure, reducing their energy use by 40%.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth, Lincroft, NJ
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth won the Energy Saver award for their exemplary work over 20 years to reduced their carbon footprint by 77% thru energy saving measures – upgrading lighting and ventilation, insulating and weatherizing, installing heat pumps, electric water heaters, new roof and solar. They prevent 55 tons of carbon emissions annually.
Beth Jacob Congregation, Mendota Heights, MN
Beth Jacob Congregation won the Energy Saver award for reducing their energy use through switching from gas to electric convection ovens, replacing lighting with LEDs, and planning for solar.
Renewable Role Model
Open Door Churches of Salem, Oregon
Open Door Churches won the Renewable Role Model award for six Methodist congregations working together to develop all six of their PV systems as a joint effort. Those congregations who had greater financial means supported others so that all could benefit. They have inspired a dozen other Methodist congregations to pursue solar.
Gethsemane Lutheran of Hopkins, Minnesota
Gethsemane Lutheran won the Renewable Role Model award for preventing 54 tons of carbon emissions annually through the use of the Minnesota-made solar panels. They raised funds at their Scandanavian Fair by selling Swedish meatballs.
First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield, New Jersey
First Presbyterian Church won the Renewable Role Model award for advocating with the local utility, the state Board of Public Utilities, the town’s Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Board, and educating the installer on local governance – to enable the church to install solar panels that are preventing 45 tons of carbon emissions annually. Their advocacy paves the way for others to install solar in their town.
Sacred Grounds
Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Erie, PA
Benedictine Sisters of Erie won a Sacred Grounds award for their woods management plan using goats to clear invasive plants, planting native trees and wildflowers. They’ve started a native plant nursery and inspired their neighbors to care for Creation.
Saint Paul United Methodist Church, Lincoln, NE
Saint Paul United Methodist Church won a Sacred Grounds award for initiating a “God’s Tree-mendous Creation” campaign to plant and care for native trees in their city. They worked with the city to identify locations, raised the funds to plant 38 trees, worked with a volunteer Master Tree Planter, and recruited volunteers to care for each tree.
St. George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA
St. George’s Episcopal won a Sacred Grounds award for their large pollinator garden and hosting a market-style food pantry that emphasizes fresh produce and healthy eating. They compost all waste from the pantry, preventing emissions. They also donated to help purchase to a large conservation buffer around Fredericksburg’s last urban farm.
