Category: Religion

Summer 2015 Church Energy Savings

In the summer of 2015, the Broad Street Church of Christ attempted to save energy by moving its services from the original auditorium to the gymnasium that was constructed in 2008.  For the three-month period, we saved a total of $285.  That’s not a lot of dollars/cents savings.  Or is it?  Let’s talk about the summer 2015 church energy savings in a more detailed fashion.

Church Energy Savings

First, it should be noted that this past summer was actually hotter than any previous recorded summer.  A degree day is a a statement of elevated average ambient temperature per day.  For the summer of 2015, for every space we kept at 85 degrees, there were 45 degree days.   At 75 degrees, there were 93 degree days.
The gist of this statement is that if we maintained the interior temperature at 85, on average, there were 45 days where the air conditioning ran regularly to hold the facility at that temperature.  By turning the set point to 75 (10 degrees cooler), we would have more than doubled the run time of our units and would have greatly increased our energy bill.  However, because the summer was so hot, the units ran regularly in the auditorium and no mold/mildew appeared.
There, we accomplished an energy savings under the following circumstances:
1.  In a measurably hotter summer given proven techniques.
2.  With one (of three) air conditioners operating dysfunctionally for part of the summer.  That unit was expending energy while not cooling.
3.  While maintaining larger Wednesday evening, summertime meetings with meals than we did in summer 2014.
4.  While hosting missionary groups to Atlanta–a water and electricity increase.
If we monitor expenses from February to October (the available data when I wrote this report), in 2015, bills required $16250.00.  The same period in 2014 was $17752.00.  Only $1500 drop, but a significant change.  This is especially meaningful when recognized that we saved during harder times.

Items to Share

1.  I believe that 7-day thermostats helped in the classroom level.  (Their cost was $150).
2.  I believe 7 day thermostats  would help in every space EXCEPT (probably) the office space.
3.  Last fall, we sealed up tons of open gaps in the old facility.  That probably helped a lot.  (You could see sunlight where the roof hit the walls.)
4.  Replacement of incandescent and older fluorescent bulbs in the auditorium would drastically reduce costs.  We can make that space brighter and more welcoming with light bulbs and save money.
5.  The building is full of phantom draw.  TVs, old projectors (we have an old projector in the auditorium just drawing energy), monitors, microwaves, etc. are drawing energy all of the time.  Surge protectors can address that easily.
6.  Lights (in the new wing) are left on, accidentally, regularly.  An investment of motion detectors might be worthwhile.
7.  Recirculation fans in the auditorium might save some energy.

Conclusion

1960’s building codes cannot compete with the energy efficiency found in 20xx building codes and driven by modern technology.  We saved money using scheduling, space planning, and electronic tools.  Can we do better?  Absolutely.

My grandmother’s last words…to me

Nettie Lou Ernstberger
Nettie Lou Ernstberger

 

[Edit:  The picture at the top of the post is one of the few digital photos that could be found of my grandmother.  In fact, other than references to her in an obituary, the image is one of the few online testimonies to her existence.  Sad as it may be, I never took many photos of her–I was too busy spending time with her.]

I recently learned that my grandmother has pancreatitis. In fact, her condition is so advanced that she was given 2 weeks (minimum) and 6 months (maximum). When I went to see her, I was completely unprepared.

I knew that serious jaundice and disorientation had been what spawned the original visit to the doctor. Her disorientation was immense–including hallucinations. But, apparently, the jaundice, itching, and any of a dozen other symptons were related to her pancreatitis but no one had been a smoking gun on its own.

I went to visit her last week (over an extended holiday weekend). I spent most of two days with her. She slept so much of the time; she only saw me in infrequent glimpses between naps. This woman, my grandmother, was proud, loud, tall, strong, and defied every traditional definition of a post-depression era homemaker.  This weekend, she was defied, muted and slurred, weak, and resembled every definition of an invalid elderly person.  This was so shocking, so upsetting to me.

I made sure to let her know that I love her at every opportunity I had.  I hugged her and gave her kisses with every chance.  I tried to make her ridiculously comfortable.

When I saw her this morning, after telling her how I felt about her, I told her that I hoped she felt better.  Her response was “There’s not much chance of that.  Just pray that this ends soon.”  I had no response other than “yes, ma’am.”  I have certainly honored this last wish.

Let me fill you in some more.  Through the 1990’s, she took care (with her sister) of her octogenarian, dementia-suffering parents.  In the 1980’s, my grandfather (her husband) learned of  his suffering of Parkinson’s.  By the 1990’s, his Parkinson’s was clearly pronounced although not disabling.  My great-grandfather died in 1994.  My great-grandmother died in 1999.   In 2001, my grandfather died due to complications from his Parkinson’s.  For a decade, she took care of ailing parents and an ailing husband.  She has now been parentless for 14 years and a widow for 12.

Three months ago she told my dad that she was “tired, lonely, and ready to be done.”  It seems that she has her opportunity.

Am I sad?  Absolutely.  We’ve been gone from my hometown for 10 years (going on 11).  I speak with her about once every two weeks.  These calls are typically long.  She has been understanding and an ear to talk to in hard times even though she can’t always relate.    On long cross-country road trips, I have called her at the most awkward times in the middle of the night.  She has spoken with me on countless occasions in just this way to help me stay awake–I’ve valued those conversations.  Perhaps my favorite conversation involves when I just asked her to tell me all about her dating my grandad.

Am I happy for her?  I’ll offer an odd “yes”.  As a Christian, her goal (and mine!) should be to pass from this life on to the reward that awaits–not that we have earned but that has been promised.  She has a chance to see friends, family (particularly my grandad), and her Lord Jesus.   My “yes” is odd only in that I am not able to embrace the concept of death as what I should want although I know that I should want to do just that.

I haven’t detailed her many wonderful qualities (and there are many) or her not-so-wonderful traits (they exist, too).  But I don’t need to do so.  Tonight, so many miles away from me, my wonderful, beloved grandmother lies while losing the last battle of her life.  I am thankful for all of the MANY hours I have spent with her (necessity and desire).  I will lose her for the remainder of my life on this planet but already look forward to meeting her again.  That time, no sickness will take her away from me and we can sing together for an eternity.

Volunteer Church Social Media Tactics

Introduction

Our congregation (The Broad Street Church of Christ, http://www.broadstreetcoc.org) has been using social media now for several years–more fully now than ever before. Being one of the few who actively alters and updates the media, I’ve thought quite a bit about this. I’ll share some of the things that we do and plan to do. However, if anyone is out there reading this, I’d love feedback.

Volunteer Church Social Media

Primarily, this force consists of member-volunteers. Some are just fast to share/retweet, others have an integral part.

We do social media via Facebook and YouTube (consequently G+). Two volunteers (a husband/wife combo) address AV needs during the service and record audio which is shared and converted to video by another member. Then, we use YouTube to post “videos” (sermon audio with a still image). The option to post those videos to G+ happens automatically. Facebook is used far more extensively. We post:

  • Reminders of services,
  • Versions of songs that will be used or introduced into services,
  • Photos of church events,
  • Announcements for classes (teachers post comments and quizzes, tests, etc.)
  • Announcements concerning mission trips, departures, and returns, and
  • Several other things which, no doubt, I’m forgetting at this moment.

For Facebook, we’ve taken advantage of the several of their wonderful tools including:

  • The Facebook Web Address (our Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/broadstreetcoc),
  • The “Insights” feature. That tool aggregates information from site visits and helps us learn what posts make the greatest difference, and
  • The ability to schedule posts.

Conclusion

In the future, we plan to use the polls and to ask more open-ended questions. As we make a much-needed upgrade to our current site, we’ll post blog posts and such to the FB page as well.  We also plan to use Instagram for our youth ministry (demographics, right?).

What uses do other churches make out of FB? I would love to hear constructive comments.

Best!

Ways We’re (Slowly) Integrating Social Media For Our Church

Our congregation (The Broad Street Church of Christ, http://www.broadstreetcoc.org) has been using social media now for several years–more fully now than ever before. Being one of the few who actively alters and updates the media, I’ve thought quite a bit about this. I’ll share some of the things that we do and plan to do. However, if anyone is out there reading this, I’d love feedback.

We do social media via Facebook and YouTube (consequently G+). We mainly use YouTube to post “videos” (sermon audio with a still image). The option to post those videos to G+ happens automatically. Facebook is used far more extensively. We post:

  • Reminders of services,
  • Versions of songs that will be used or introduced into services,
  • Photos of church events,
  • Announcements for classes (teachers post comments and quizzes, tests, etc.)
  • Announcements concerning mission trips, departures, and returns, and
  • Several other things which, no doubt, I’m forgetting at this moment.

For Facebook, we’ve taken advantage of the several of their wonderful tools including:

  • The Facebook Web Address (our Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/broadstreetcoc),
  • The “Insights” feature. That tool aggregates information from site visits and helps us learn what posts make the greatest difference, and
  • The ability to schedule posts.

In the future, we plan to use the polls and to ask more open-ended questions. As we make a much-needed upgrade to our current site, we’ll post blog posts and such to the FB page as well.

What uses do other churches make out of FB? I would love to hear constructive comments.

Best!

Church Energy Usage Recommendations

Intro

If you haven’t already read the previous blog entries, you should read

  1. Church Energy Improvements (Part One)
  2. Continued Church Energy Improvements (Part Two)
  3. Church HVAC Efficiency (Part Three)

These posts give a pretty clear picture of what it is that we’re up against.

The Broad Street Church of Christ has been undergoing quite a bit of energy analysis. Here are some more things to summarize what we’ve learned.

First, since we use such crazy amounts of electricity, we’re considered a commercial entity. That means, that the utility uses a percentage (95%) of our peak usage to determine our electrical demand . Found at a https://harris.lagrange-ga.org/utilitydocuments/Electric%20Commercial.pdf, is a discussion of how power demand is determined for our city.

Church Energy Usage Recommendations

In speaking with one very helpful individual, he pointed out that the best thing we can try to do is to lower our electrical usage during the summer and consequently our rate (based upon demand) will be reduced on the year. We used, on average, 10,475.2 kWh/per month! So, the concept of this style of conservation can help us out considerably.

There are a few things that an HVAC installer (who focuses his efforts on churches) told me.

  1. Seven-day thermostats. There is no need to heat/cool units for mid-week events/services (say Wednesday nights) all five nights of the traditional work week. This will dramatically decrease church energy usage.
  2. You need to cycle the air periodically. Running the units (with the fan on “auto”) to heat/cool to about 4 degrees difference than the “resting” temp will pull moisture out of the air. This is a must for churches in humid climates–like GA. In a study (I’ll find the link), relative humidity (in the summer) fell below 55% when you kept the air temp at greater than 80 degrees.

The below link is a Google Document spreadsheet. In it, I have identified each and every zone of the building. From there, I created a Saturday/Sunday schedule and a MTWThF schedule.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhL08JM3LoHsdGtYbk5KcXZCbThTcG1uaEpReGt4eGc&usp=sharing

Current rest points for the winter are 55 (gas heated spaces) and 58 (heat pump spaces). In the summer, those points are 85 degrees uniformly. I’ve recently read that many churches in the far northern U.S. advocate as low as 45 degrees. I’d have to have more validation before attempting it.

Conclusion

At this point, I would find three things helpful:

  1. Links to a journal that would publish work like this–Christian/church/religious entities concerned with maximizing energy of their facilities or just sustainability (in general).
  2. Commentary from knowledgeable individuals. By this, I mean individuals who actually advise churches on energy policies for a career.
  3. Links to studies that address exactly these types of issues.

Please your thoughts/comments below in the comments section!

Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part Three

At this point, you’ve probably read the past two blog posts:

  1. Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part One
  2. Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part Two

You probably already know that the Broad Street church has got a long way to go.

HVAC Efficiency: Schedules

We will presume that all components of the HVAC systems of the building are in a proper working order. In practice we know this is a false presumption. The “new” units aren’t well-maintained and the “old” units are in bad shape.

In a recent examination of thermostats in the “new” section of the building, I found that they’d never been set. For four years, this building has heated/cooled itself on the priorities of never-before-adjusted thermostats. The whimsical wants and wishes of temperature-fickle members had been catered to at the cost of the bill.

Let’s give some breakdown of the thermostatic control of the building.

  1. Old Building
    1. Auditorium: There are two 5+1+1 thermostats–one for each side of the auditorium. The space is gas heated/electrically cooled. The 2006 programmable thermostats (Honeywells) only begin heating/cooling at the specified time and do not take into account the amount of time required to heat/cool the space to the desired temp.
    2. Balcony: There is one manually-operated thermostat for the balcony space. A separate HVAC unit to itself, that unit is really only required in the summer when hot air (rising) has turned the balcony into a comfortably-seated oven. (It should be noted that black slate (yes, real slate!) shingles are in use on top of the building.)
    3. Basement: Once containing the classroom, kitchen, and fellowshipping spaces of the building, the basement now is basically underused and underappreciated space waiting for something fantastic to happen. There is one 7-day programmable thermostat for the entire, relatively unused, space.
  2. New Building
    1. Foyer: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for a large hall/foyer space.
    2. Room 105: A multi-purpose room. There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for that space which is often used for community events and meetings. It seats about 35 people comfortably.
    3. Gymnasium: There are three 5+2 programmable thermostats for the gymnasium space
    4. Kitchen: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for the kitchen. There are lots of heavy-duty appliances running in there, so that space is automatically warm.
    5. Office space: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for the office space. This space is well-used all week long.
    6. Upstairs: There are three 5+2 programmable thermostats that ultimately control zones which include hallways, bathrooms, and classrooms.

The thermostats in the new section of the building have the option to transition automatically from heat to/from cool. I’ve left this setting as manually adjust now in case of seasons of unusual warmth (we just had some 80-degree January, 2013 days) or unusual coolness. All thermostats EXCEPT 1-3 and 2-5 have had schedules reset. Thermostat 1-3 is under close supervision by conscientious office staff–more conscientious than the schedules would permit. Thermostat 2-5 has remained unset simply because of humidity controls for the basement. However, thermostat 2-5 will soon enjoy a program.

Several dilemmas occur when trying to set a temperature policy. For instance, our church has a Wednesday evening service. But, if we set the auditorium controls to be 68/75 (heat/AC) for those times (6:30-7:30 PM), that means that Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday also unnecessarily enjoy those temperatures. Similarly, the gymnasium houses our Wed. evening meals and congregational Sunday Dinners (lunch on Sundays) on the third Sunday of each month. The Wednesday night temperature problem is the same as in the auditorium and the Sunday settings mimic an identical problem. The classrooms also have the same Wednesday woes. The solution: someone goes about and manually adjusts the temperatures as they would have before any temperature was set. This is certainly not easier, but it is less costly.

The kitchen is its own temperature schedule. With multiple appliances running 24/7 and a gas pilot light, the kitchen is cozy–even on cold days. The “empty” temperature setting reflects that artificial heat. The gymnasium remains on an “empty” schedule 24/7. If people wish to adjust temperatures, they may do so in unison between all three thermostats. The foyer space presets to the “in-use” setting only on Sunday mornings for 9:30 am-10:30. The upstairs classroom/hall/bathroom spaces all are set to be “in-use” from 10:30-11:30. All other times are “empty”. The auditorium heats/cools from 8:30 (to warm up the space) until 11:30. Room 105 is conditioned from 10:30-11:30 on Sunday mornings only. Any other changes are fine. The program will revert to preset temperatures at the scheduled shift change.

Currently, the “empty” temperature settings are 58/83 (heat/AC). We will readjust the empty heat setting to be 55 and the empty AC setting to be 85. The “in-use” settings are 68 and 75. Although this does not follow the guidelines as set by DeVries (2002), it does adhere more strictly to the AASHE guidelines for academic buildings.

So far, we’ve only locked the three thermostats in the gymnasium and have requested that anyone changing the thermostat settings NOT hit the “hold” button. The schedules are spread out throughout the day so that anyone changing them may have a few hours of relative comfort–we don’t want them continually changing the temp.

Resources

DeVries, S. (2002). Energy conservation reference and management guide for churches. Lansing, MI: Michigan Energy Office. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/energyoffice

Church HVAC Efficiency

Intro

At this point, you may have read the past two blog posts:

  1. Church Energy Improvements, Part One
  2. Continued Church Energy Improvements

Those posts were written about my home church in Georgia.  From the previous articles, you probably already know that the Broad Street church has along way to go in terms of facilities efficiency.

In the continuation of the series, we’re going to examine the HVAC efficiency using the current heating/cooling schedules of the facility.

Church HVAC Efficiency

We will presume that all components of the HVAC systems of the building are in a proper working order. In practice we know this is a false presumption. The “new” units aren’t well-maintained and the “old” units are in bad shape.

In a recent examination of thermostats in the “new” section of the building, I found that they’d never been set. For four years, this building has heated/cooled itself on the priorities of never-before-adjusted thermostats. The whimsical wants and wishes of church members have resulted in cooler/warmer spaces for weird or long periods of time.

Let’s give some breakdown of the thermostatic control of the building.

  1. Old Building
    1. Auditorium: There are two 5+1+1 thermostats–one for each side of the auditorium. The space is gas heated/electrically cooled. The 2006 programmable thermostats (Honeywells) only begin heating/cooling at the specified time and do not take into account the amount of time required to heat/cool the space to the desired temp.
    2. Balcony: There is one manually-operated thermostat for the balcony space. A separate HVAC unit to itself, that unit is really only required in the summer when hot air (rising) has turned the balcony into a comfortably-seated oven. (It should be noted that black slate (yes, real slate!) shingles are in use on top of the building.)
    3. Basement: Once containing the classroom, kitchen, and fellowshipping spaces of the building, the basement now is basically underused and underappreciated space waiting for something fantastic to happen. There is one 7-day programmable thermostat for the entire, relatively unused, space.
  2. New Building
    1. Foyer: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for a large hall/foyer space.
    2. Room 105: A multi-purpose room. There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for that space which is often used for community events and meetings. It seats about 35 people comfortably.
    3. Gymnasium: There are three 5+2 programmable thermostats for the gymnasium space
    4. Kitchen: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for the kitchen. There are lots of heavy-duty appliances running in there, so that space is automatically warm.
    5. Office space: There is one 5+2 programmable thermostat for the office space. This space is well-used all week long.
    6. Upstairs: There are three 5+2 programmable thermostats that ultimately control zones which include hallways, bathrooms, and classrooms.

The thermostats in the new section of the building have the option to transition automatically from heat to/from cool. I’ve left this setting as manually adjust now in case of seasons of unusual warmth (we just had some 80-degree January, 2013 days) or unusual coolness. All thermostats EXCEPT 1-3 (old) and 2-5 (new) have had schedules reset. Thermostat 1-3 is under close supervision by conscientious office staff–more conscientious than the schedules would permit. Thermostat 2-5 has remained unset simply because of humidity controls for the basement. However, thermostat 2-5 will soon enjoy a program.

Several dilemmas occur when trying to set a temperature policy. For instance, our church has a Wednesday evening service. But, if we set the auditorium controls to be 68/75 (heat/AC) for those times (6:30-7:30 PM), that means that Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday also unnecessarily enjoy those temperatures. Similarly, the gymnasium houses our Wed. evening meals and congregational Sunday Dinners (lunch on Sundays) on the third Sunday of each month. The Wednesday night temperature problem is the same as in the auditorium and the Sunday settings mimic an identical problem. The classrooms also have the same Wednesday woes. The solution: someone goes about and manually adjusts the temperatures as they would have before any temperature was set. This is certainly not easier, but it is less costly.

The kitchen is its own temperature schedule. With multiple appliances running 24/7 and a gas pilot light, the kitchen is cozy–even on cold days. The “empty” temperature setting reflects that artificial heat. The gymnasium remains on an “empty” schedule 24/7. If people wish to adjust temperatures, they may do so in unison between all three thermostats. The foyer space presets to the “in-use” setting only on Sunday mornings for 9:30 am-10:30. The upstairs classroom/hall/bathroom spaces all are set to be “in-use” from 10:30-11:30. All other times are “empty”. The auditorium heats/cools from 8:30 (to warm up the space) until 11:30. Room 105 is conditioned from 10:30-11:30 on Sunday mornings only. Any other changes are fine. The program will revert to preset temperatures at the scheduled shift change.

Currently, the “empty” temperature settings are 58/83 (heat/AC). We will readjust the empty heat setting to be 55 and the empty AC setting to be 85. The “in-use” settings are 68 and 75. Although this does not follow the guidelines as set by DeVries (2002), it does adhere more strictly to the AASHE guidelines for academic buildings.

Conclusion

So far, we’ve only locked the three thermostats in the gymnasium and have requested that anyone changing the thermostat settings NOT hit the “hold” button. The schedules are spread out throughout the day so that anyone changing them may have a few hours of relative comfort–we don’t want them continually changing the temp.

Resources

DeVries, S. (2002). Energy conservation reference and management guide for churches. Lansing, MI: Michigan Energy Office. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/energyoffice

Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part Two

Hopefully, you read through my past article (“Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part One”) about the beginning of maximizing the energy usage of the Broad St. Church of Christ building. You saw some of the pictures and can deduce, probably like other church buildings you’ve been in, that things can be improved upon.

A next logical step was to begin to analyze energy usage. Just as at most churches, I got in touch with the fellow who pays the bills. He gave me the 2012 calendar year’s bills. With just a basic spreadsheet application, I computed a few pieces of information:

  1. On average, the BSCOC uses 10,475.15 kWh/month. This brings the electricity portion of the bill to $1,413.89 (on average) per month.
  2. Including gas ovens and gas heat, the building uses (on average) 80.54 CCF per month at an average cost of $96.75.
  3. If we take our 12 month electricity usage and divide that by our approximated square-footage (37,000 sq. ft.), then we have (on average) 3.44 kWh/sq.ft. These numbers are only about 1% higher than the national average according to one resource [1].

Continue on to Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part Three.

References:

DeVries, S. (2002). Energy conservation reference and management guide for churches. Lansing, MI: Michigan Energy Office. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/energyoffice

Continued Church Energy Improvements

Continued church energy improvements
An image of the auditorium of the Broad Street Church of Christ.

Introduction

Hopefully, you read through my past article (“Church Energy Improvements, Part One”) about the beginning of maximizing the energy usage of the Broad St. Church of Christ building. You saw some of the pictures and can deduce, probably like other church buildings you’ve been in, that things can be improved upon.

Recall that the building, located in western Georgia tolerates mild winters but takes a beating from brutal summers.   How can we know that any  continued church energy improvements help save us money?  First we have to get some basic statistical data.

Continued Church Energy Improvements

A next logical step was to begin to analyze energy usage. Just as at most churches, I got in touch with the fellow who pays the bills. He gave me the 2012 calendar year’s bills. With just a basic spreadsheet application, I computed a few pieces of information:

  1. On average, the BSCOC uses 10,475.15 kWh/month. This brings the electricity portion of the bill to $1,413.89 (on average) per month.
  2. Including gas ovens and gas heat, the building uses (on average) 80.54 CCF per month at an average cost of $96.75.
  3. If we take our 12 month electricity usage and divide that by our approximated square-footage (37,000 sq. ft.), then we have (on average) 3.44 kWh/sq.ft. These numbers are only about 1% higher than the national average according to one resource [1].

Conclusion

Some basic statistics were easily computed using a simple spreadsheet and by simply looking at our previous bills.  What will come next?  Continue on to Energy Maximization of a Church Building, Part Three.

References:

DeVries, S. (2002). Energy conservation reference and management guide for churches. Lansing, MI: Michigan Energy Office. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/energyoffice