A mention of St. Columba’s in Washington, D.C., is worth repeating from today’s New York Times. Mireya Navarro reports on how interfaith initiatives and cooperatives like the energy-purchasing group on St. Columba’s Environment Committee have helped churches save big money over time and put those dollars back into mission rather than simply use it to pay utility bills.
…an environmental committee was created from the congregation of 3,800 several years ago to come up with energy-saving measures like installing motion sensor lights and purchasing wind power through the local utility.
Still, said Paul J. Barkett, the church’s chief operating officer, St. Columba’s faced monthly energy bills that averaged $8,000, mostly to heat and cool two buildings housing the church, which opens its showers, washers and dryers to about 35 of the community’s homeless people.
St. Columba’s now expects to save up to $12,000 a year after joining the purchasing group. The church operates on an annual budget of $2.4 million that is mostly drawn from parishioners’ contributions, he said.