• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • +1(510) 444-4891
  • info@interfaithpowerandlight.org
  • Donate Now!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Cool Congregations

Cool Congregations

  • Home
  • About
  • Start Up Kits
  • Certification
  • The Challenge
    • Take the Cool Congregations Challenge
    • Entry Forms Cool Challenge
    • 2023 Challenge Winners
    • Meet Previous Winners
  • Find Inspiration
    • Solar Congregations
    • Your Success Stories
  • Calculators
    • Get Started
    • Congregational Calculator
    • Household Calculator
  • Resources
    • Links
    • In Your State
    • Religious Statements on Climate Change
You are here: Home / Cool Congregations / Energy Efficiency / Looking where light is brightest

Looking where light is brightest

July 12, 2012 By Admin

Older commercial stove with pilot lights burned up lots of propane and money.

An advantage of being a, small, rural economically challenged congregation is that we are always consciously looking to control operating expenses. The First Congregational Church of Durham, Maine has had this experience for many years. Within the past 15 years we have replaced doors and windows with high efficiency ones to save fuel, replaced our furnace, installed a timed thermostat to regulate the temperature, updated the heating ductwork, and replaced all incandescent lights with fluorescent lighting.

We have an ever growing recycling and composting program. In our town, we pay per bag trash pickup we have very little actual “trash” to discard. We keep careful track of (furnace) oil and (stove) propane consumption, and this has alerted us on several occasions of excessive consumption (improper thermostat timer settings and excessive stove pilot settings after servicing), which we were able to address promptly.

This past winter the excessive pilot setting propane consumption caused us to look at the 10 pilot lights on our commercial size stove (no piezoelectric starters) and its propane average monthly consumption of approximately 30 gallons and wonder what the propane bill would be if we turned off the gas between suppers or events. We consulted the stove manufacturer, created a written procedure with pictures for turning the gas supply off and on and restarting the stove pilots, and trained several church members. The result was a reduction from 209.8 gallons of Propane for a 6 month period.

This Cool Congregations story was submitted by First Congregational Church, Durham, Maine

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Contact Us

Interfaith Power & Light (National Office)
672 13th Street, Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 444-4891
Email: info@interfaithpowerandlight.org
Click here to contact Interfaith Power & Light in your state

Follow Us On Social Media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

RSS Latest IPL News

  • Washington Report – February 2023
  • Tell the EPA to set Strong Soot Limits!
  • Stronger Soot Pollution Standards Needed for Cleaner Air and Healthier Communities
  • 15 Congregations Win National Award for Climate Leadership
  • Washington Report – January 2023
  • Faith Leaders:  Add your name to our letter to the EPA for strong soot pollution protections
  • Interfaith Power & Light Network Calls for EPA to set Strong Soot Protections
  • Top 5 Climate Developments of 2022

IPL on Twitter

Tweets by interfaithpower

Copyright © 2023 · Interfaith Power & Light · All Rights Reserved · Log in