It’s not hard to find a Connecticut church that dates back to the 19th or even the 18th century. But finding a way to heat and cool these old buildings as utility costs rise and congregations shrink is a timely challenge.
Rev. Albert Bailey is the pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church, one of Hartford’s oldest Black churches, which dates back to the early 1900s. The church can seat up to 500 people, but a good turnout nowadays is about 100 people. Still, the place needs to be heated and cooled, even if fewer people are turning up.
“This space is huge,” Bailey said. “It takes a lot to light it up. It takes a lot to heat it up.”
In order to keep the bills down, the church reduced its number of open days. It also holds most of its meetings and choir rehearsals during the day to save money and avoid keeping the lights on at night. But that only keeps costs down so much.
Helping houses of worship go green
“Energy efficiency is really the critical step,” said Terri Eickel, executive director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, a faith-based environmental group.
Eickel and the group work with houses of worship across Connecticut, giving talks and workshops on energy efficiency and awarding small grants to help houses of worship offset the costs of installing heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.
“I have one congregation in Greenwich looking at geothermal,” Eickel said.
So far, Eickel and her group have helped 250 houses of worship go green. Connecticut’s older churches have some of the trickiest issues to deal with, she said.
“They literally have no insulation,” Eickel said. “They can have issues with mold. Sometimes they have water rising up through the basement floors and stuff like that. They've got multiple issues to deal with and especially as climate change has made things worse.”
But boosting energy efficiency is not just about saving costs, it’s also about faith.
“Every faith tradition talks about the importance of caring for the planet. Faith traditions talk about not wasting,” Eickel said.
Eickel’s group awarded Shiloh Baptist Church a small grant that helped them put energy-efficient lights in its auditorium where it serves meals to people in need. Pastor Bailey said the new lights lower their bills by about $90 a month, which goes back to the soup kitchen and food pantry when donations run low.
“It really helps us out,” Bailey said. “If you take that $90 times 12, it's a nice little considerable chunk for us.”
A legacy for future worshippers
Eickel’s group also awarded energy efficiency and solar grants to Temple Bnai Israel, a synagogue in Willimantic where the furnace has been on the brink, leaving worshippers upstairs feeling way too cold or boiling hot.
“The furnace would — as one of our maintenance guys said — it would just decide when it wanted to go on, decide when it wanted to go off. It was completely random,” Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz said.
Now, the synagogue is swapping the furnace for heat pumps and adding solar panels, which is expected to lower operating costs by $20,000.
Back in October, worshippers at the synagogue took part in a Sun Day rally to promote the benefits of solar energy. People chanted on the sidewalk with signs as cars passed and honked.
“I love solar,” said 8-year-old Charlotte Wilkinson into the megaphone.
It’s this younger generation that Schwartz said they’re doing this work for.
“The Earth is a holy gift, an incredibly beautiful one,” he said, “so to sustain it is one of our values.”
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public
