In 2022, Ascension reviewed its goals regarding greening its building and some of the ways that it might achieve those goals. Ascension wants: to be as close to “net zero” carbon emissions as we can reasonably be; to be a leader in the community in the greening of buildings; and to live up to our baptismal covenant to “strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth.”
Accomplishing this requires updating green audits, considering our energy sources (and carbon offsets), and reducing our energy use.
A green audit had been carried out in late 2012 by Greening Sacred Spaces/Faith & the Common Good. It made many useful suggestions for the greening of the building. In 2022, we took stock of the progress that we had made over the previous ten years. Importantly, all the windows on the lower level had been replaced with energy efficient ones, as had half of the large windows on the upper level. As well, most of the lighting on the upper level had been upgraded.
Updating the audit helped us identify some steps to reduce our energy usage. In late 2022, we received advice and a grant approval from the Ottawa Faith Community Capacity Building Program, sponsored by Greening Sacred Spaces and Watersheds Canada, which allowed the church to complete two of those steps in 2023.
First, to reduce our water and electricity use, we replaced a large electric hot water heater with a smaller 20-gallon electric tank, which was installed closer to points of usage.
Second, we upgraded about 30 fluorescent tube fixtures on the lower level of the building to LED tube fixtures, thanks to an additional $2000 grant from the Save on Energy Small Business Program. This upgrade cuts the cost of lighting the area in half and is projected to save us almost $400 per year in electricity costs.
To help us decide on future greening steps to take, in the fall of 2023 we enrolled in Greening Sacred Spaces’ Energy Benchmarking Program. This is integrated with the City of Ottawa’s Better Buildings Ottawa Benchmarking and Auditing Program. The benchmarking will show us our energy usage, energy cost, and carbon footprint and how they compare with similar buildings in Ottawa. The programs should help us to identify how to improve our energy efficiency, provide us with educational materials, and allow us to apply for future micro-grants to implement small energy-saving projects.
In addition to undertaking steps to reduce our carbon footprint over the past 11 years, Ascension now uses only natural based cleaners and actively uses recycling bins throughout the building.
We will continue to move forward on greening our building and reducing our carbon footprint to safeguard God’s creation.
For more info, please contact greeningthebuilding@churchoftheascension.ca .