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Minutes by Rita Norton:
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Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition
Meeting of
NEXT MEETING: February 4,
BILL BERGERSON WILL BE MODERATOR.
KARIN MCADAMS WILL BE TAKE MINUTES.
Meeting came to order at
In attendance:
Rick Gasaway, RoseTherese Huelsman, Karin McAdams, Bill Bergerson, Barbara Chaplin, Vivion Gibbens, Mid Lawrence, Carol Meyer, Eileen Horn, Barbara Shepherd, Osa Moody, Janice Grant, Margaret Thomas, Diane Kuhn, Kristin Riott, and Jerry Rees and guests Russ Rudy, Casey Lauer, and Dustin Jensen.
Russ Rudy:
Rick Gasaway introduced Russ Rudy (r.rudy@kcc.ks.gov) of the Kansas Energy Office who presented an abbreviated version of a energy use reduction presentation for facilities managers. The Energy Services companies (at least one smallish, local company among them) to which the program is most frequently presented are mostly large businesses serving mostly large businesses and municipalities but also serving churches and other non-profits.
Two truisms of religious organizations is 1) that their buildings are energy wasteful and 2) that motivating them to invest in more than the so-called low hanging fruit of conservation in order to decrease their energy use is difficult. Investment in major energy saving changes is expensive. Therefore, part of what the Office must offer is motivation. Beyond explaining means to reduce energy use and reduce CO2 emissions (ground source heat pumps, wind turbines, etc.), Russ and his team explain that the amount of money that is saved by investing in passive and active energy reduction exceeds the amount of money that is usually made by other investments.
In order to be cost effective as well as to make buildings friendlier to the environment, projects for energy efficiency must consider the whole picture of a building’s energy use. This requires an energy audit, a fairly extensive procedure that is often costly. Government and utility organizations are gradually developing programs by which those costs can be reduced. When an organization (business, church, etc.) picks several priorities from among a list of priorities that is prepared after an audit, that organization will pay less for the audit and/or will be able to get a loan to make some of the changes at a lower than usual rate. Also, the use of energy audits enables organizations that are investing for efficiency and cleaner environment to aggregate their energy savings activities and see that, indeed, their cost savings are truly paying the costs.
Among specific recommendations for action by the Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition:
> The
> We can encourage KCPL to extend to churches an upcoming KCPL program for home energy audits.
> We can encourage our separate organizations to participate in an April MARC program that deals with ”greening” institutions.
> We can organize to create a market for the contractors now being trained for efficient building, building use, and reduction of CO2 emissions.
> We can help to market audits.
RoseTherese Huelsman and implementing the mission of SSC:
RoseTherese described five stages toward implementation, two & one half of which to be dealt with tonight:
1) the bold dream,
2) the removal of identified roadblocks,
3) strategic direction for removing roadblocks,
4) necessary systematic actions, and
5) implementation: How do we organize ourselves to pursue our mission? How do we assure that agenda for meetings serve the mission?
Exercise to clarify uniqueness / mission and goal of SSC consisted of each of us imagining what SSC might accomplish in the next five years. These fell into categories listed as—
Energy Use Reduce/Reuse/Recycle Landscapes Eating
Organization Alternative Energy Supply Audits Green conversion
Connection to social problems Interaction with Gov’t
New theology & cosmology
Next exercise identified barriers to reaching our goals. These included Ignorance, Greed, Self-Righteousness, Tradition, Laziness, Church politics, Elitism, Perception of environment and spirituality as separate, Fear of discomfort, Survival mode, Committees
Next exercise (only partially begun) is to determine the underlying obstacles or barriers.
What will we do as a group? February meeting will continue this activity.
Eileen Horn of the Climate Energy Project described plans for activities in which SSC could/should participate, primary among these is a discussion of the future of Kansas Energy at JCCC on Tuesday 22 Jan, from
Climate Energy Project will pair with True Blue Women to determine concrete action steps to preserve the decision to withhold permission to build the Holcomb coal fired energy plants. Sunflower Utilities rumored to be spending $1.5 million to reverse the decision (allowing the coal plants). A major project of the organization is the put together a large event with important speakers and lots of ministers to elicit congregational commitments.
4 February meeting will be facilitated by Bill Bergerson with notes taken by Karin McAdams.
Humbly submitted,
Rita Norton, late again