Churches undergo green audit for sustainability

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This article was published 21/02/2020 (2439 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While many congregations often look to a higher power, an energy auditor suggests churches should consider more than their Hydro bills when planning to make their buildings greener.

Everything from external signage, locations of recycling bins and insulation in the attic combine to make a religious building sustainable, said Stephen Collette, building audit manager for the Toronto-based Faith and the Common Good.

“We do look at energy because it’s important, but we look at food and water and air quality, waste, maintenance and landscaping,” said Collette, who is in Manitoba this week to audit three Winnipeg churches and one in Niverville.

“We want everyone in the building to make a change for the good and to empower them to make it successful.”

The half-day audit costs up to $1,750, depending on the size of the building and is open to as many church staff and members who want to participate, said the Lakefield, Ont., historical building consultant, who has conducted more than 1,000 green audits over the last decade.

Several board members of Gordon-King Memorial United Church followed Collette on Wednesday to understand some of the issues in their 93-year-old red brick building, which features a 1,500-pipe Casavant organ, a horseshoe balcony, and multiple entrances.

“He talked a lot about people who had never been into a church (before) how imposing the structure is,” said Pat Wally. “That’s a perspective I had never though of before.”

“A lot of it is how people use the space and how the space invites them in,” added congregational chairperson George Graham.

He said the church scheduled the audit in order to open up the Cobourg Avenue building to the neighbourhood again, he said.

Once a worshiping space for hundreds of people in the Glenelm area, an older neighbourhood between the Red River and Henderson Highway, Graham said the future of the building — dubbed the Big Red Church  — lies in serving their neighbours another way.

“We’re trying to be a community gathering place for the community as well as a faith community,” explained the retired structural technologist.

Community groups already use the church building every day for music lessons, activities for children and seniors  and 12-step meetings.

“We have this big resource. Some would think of it as an albatross, but we think of it as an opportunity,” said Graham.

Recently the congregation was awarded grants from the Winnipeg Foundation to update its washrooms, and another from the Sir Thomas Cropo Foundation to repair the large rose window on the front exterior wall.

Graham said the congregation will dip into its reserve funds to make up the other half of the renovation and repair costs. Both those improvements, as well as ones indicated by the audit, will help make the building more sustainable and usable.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” he said of the congregation of about 40 regular worshipers.

“Five years ago we approached it from a place of fear and now we approach it from a place of hope.”

After an audit is completed, Collette compiles a 40-page report with photos, detailing possible improvements ranked by priority and cost. That report shows the congregation what they can do to improve energy efficiency and sustainability before replacing a big ticket item like a boiler or furnace.

“Spending money on the mechanical system is not the first priority,” said Collette during the tour, where he measured heat loss in windows with an infrared camera attached to his smartphone.

“We want to improve the air seal so we can effectively heat the building.”

Collette also audited Home Street Mennonite Church and Knox United Church this week and was scheduled to visit Niverville United today.

During his four-stop Manitoba tour, Collette trained Jill Hisco of Winnipeg’s Purpose Construction to conduct audits so Manitoba churches no longer have to pay travel expenses on top of the audit fee.

“I’ll be the first person outside of (Ontario) doing this,” said Hisco, also local coordinator for Faithful Footprints, a United Church of Canada initiative to help churches reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. 

brenda@suderman.com

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