The Interfaith Coalition on Energy
February 1987

Purpose of this Booklet

Congregations are interested in reducing energy costs for several reasons. Most important, the dollars that are saved can be used for other purposes, such as service to the community. Other reasons include proper stewardship of natural resources and protecting the environment from global warming and acid rain.

Energy dollars are just as real as the dollars raised through offerings. They buy as many goods and services as endowment dollars. And they pay for salaries as well as cash from other sources. Energy dollars are different from many other costs, however, in that they are controllable.

This booklet was written for the peco Energy Company (peco) by the Interfaith Coalition on Energy (ice) in Philadelphia which has followed changes in energy use in over 800 buildings belonging to more than 300 congregations.

What are the factors in reducing energy costs? There are ten ingredients that can be combined to reduce energy costs for a congregation. How many of the following apply to your congregation?

• At least one person accepting responsibility for energy

• Knowing the relative energy rating of the buildings

• Purchasing energy at the lowest practical price

• Changing the conditions in unoccupied buildings

• Attaining and maintaining efficient heating/cooling systems

• Reducing the air flowing from the building

• Relamping long-burning fixtures with efficient lights

• Using domestic hot water that is 110 degrees or cooler

• Changing the use of appliances

• Keeping track of energy use

Using this list as a guideline, the ice describes the following series of procedures which can be adopted by congregations.

Accepting Responsibility

In congregations with relatively low energy costs, there usually is one person who accepts the responsibility for energy. This may be the custodian, sexton, treasurer, head of the property committee, or a member of the clergy. Without anyone accepting the responsibility, it is less possible to have a successful program. Who has or will undertake this responsibility in your congregation?

Knowing Your Building’s Energy Score

Success in energy cost reduction is generally more prevalent in wasteful buildings. Are you wasting your time by trying to make an efficient building more efficient? How does your building’s energy use compare with others?

Why rate your building’s energy use? Let’s consider a comparison to personal dieting:

Gathering Data

Energy is measurable. Peco Energy Company provides your congregation with accurate records of electric and gas use, and can supply computer printouts showing a history of energy use. Fuel dealers can supply similar information.

Electricity.

For each month, list the number of kilowatthours use and the peak electric demand. The peak demand is the highest number of kilowatthours used during any demand period in that month. With a commercial type of rate, your energy costs can be reduced by using fewer kilowatthours, and also by lowering your peak demand for electricity.

By dividing the kilowatthours (kwh) by the kilowatts (kw), the hours use of each kw of demand is calculated for each month. In a church that used electricity only when the building was being occupied, the hours use of demand is roughly equivalent to the number of hours per month that the facility was used or occupied.

With peco’s commercial rates, the higher the number of hours use of demand, the lower the cost per kilowatthour. However, rate increases and seasonally adjusted rates can interfere with this pattern. You can also compare the electric demand by dividing the peak watts from the highest monthly demand for the year by the square feet of ¾oor area within the building.

Natural gas.

Gas is measured in hundreds of cubic feet (ccf). When possible, the same time period for gathering data should be used for electric and gas use. Estimated readings make it difficult to track energy use. If you have repeated problems obtaining consistent actual readings of your meters, call peco. Peco tries to keep estimated readings to a minimum.

Fuel.

The basic unit of fuel is the delivery of a certain number of gallons; few oil-fired or propane-fired heating systems have meters similar to gas and electric meters. Therefore, we generally record the number of gallons delivered during a heating season. This season begins July 1 of each year and ends on June 30 of the following year. Usually, fuel deliveries are measured between July 1 to June 30 of the following year, assuming that the tank is "topped off" after each season. If the deliveries during the calendar year are used instead, there may be an error in the data of up to twice the capacity of the fuel storage tank.

BTU per Square Foot Ratings

Food is rated by calories per day. The energy used in cars is generally rated according to miles per gallon of gasoline. The energy used in buildings is rated as the amount of energy used annually for each square foot of floor space.

All energy ends up as heat. In the heating season, the lights, cooking, and hot water tank contribute heat to the building as well as the natural gas or fuel oil. Therefore, in rating energy use in buildings, you have to include all energy sources, rather than just heating fuel.

Heat is commonly measured in btus. One btu is approximately the heat content of a kitchen match burning end to end. Each form of energy has different heat content as follows:

To determine the floor area of the building, measure from the outside. Include the floor area of the basement if it is heated intentionally or unintentionally. Exclude the basement when it is not heated. We generally round off the area to the nearest 100 square feet of floor space. These numbers can be used in two ways. First, one year’s energy performance can be compared with another. Second, the energy performance of this building can be compared to that of similar buildings.

Wise Energy Purchasing

Are you paying state sales tax? Is your congregation on the most favorable electric rate?

Are you purchasing the least expensive fuel oil?

About a third of the congregations in the City of Philadelphia are unnecessarily paying Pennsylvania State sales tax. Many congregations are not on the correct electric rate. Most oil-burning congregations do not request bids annually for fuel oil.

Make certain that you are not paying state sales tax. If you are, each supplier should be contacted to obtain information on how to stop paying these taxes, and how to claim credit or a refund for past taxes paid. If your suppliers are not able to help you, call ice for further advice.

We suggest that a representative from the congregation meet with, or talk to, a peco representative to determine if the buildings are on the most favorable electric rate. Here are a few of your choices:

Measured demand.

In most processes, the rate of use is much more important than the amount of use. For example:

• We build toll booths on highways to meet the demands of rush hour.

• We build dams according to the peak rate of flow in a river.

• You may need medicine to remain healthy, but taking too much medicine at one time results in an overdose.

• If you tell a police officer that you just drove 80 miles, he or she would not likely care. If you told the officer that you drove 80 miles in the last 30 minutes, you would get more attention!

Highway travel during off-peak times is less harried. Streams with low water levels cause few problems. Taking medicine at prescribed doses cures us without making us sick. We do not get speeding tickets if we drive slower than the speed limit. We all recognize that peak use—rush hour, floods, overdoses, and speeding—causes problems.

Peak use causes problems for utilities as well, taxing utility systems to their capacity. Utilities often design their rates to encourage off-peak use of the systems. Telephone companies bill less for calls during off peak. Water companies bill less for smaller water meters.

If the electric use in your building is over 1,100 kilowatthours per month and is billed according to Rate gs, Rate pd or Rate ht, the cost for each kilowatthour is determined by the peak rate at which you use them. This peak rate of use, or electric demand, is measured by the electric meter, which counts the maximum number of kilowatthours used during any one 30-minute period between meter readings, typically monthly.

With a given number of kilowatthours, higher demands increase the cost per kilowatthour. So, if a church uses many lights only on Sunday, for example, then the cost per kilowatthour would be greater than that for a church that used the same number of kilowatthours, but used fewer lights during more hours of the week.

In other words, the more hours that you use a kilowatt of demand per month, the lower the cost per kilowatthour. The hours use of demand is typically low for churches. If the electricity is used only for worship services, then the hours use may be less than 50 per month.

Estimated demand.

There are two ways that peco Energy Company helps you reduce the cost of electricity. First, if you use less than 1,100 kilowatthours of electricity each month, the electric demand is estimated automatically by peco by dividing the kilowatthours by a certain number of hours use. Therefore, if your bills are slightly over the 1,100 kwh minimum, it may be worth the effort to install efficient lights to reduce your electric use to get the cheaper electric rate for all electricity you use.

The Night Service Rider.

The second way that peco can reduce your electric costs involves our off-peak commercial electric rate called the Night Service Rider. If your maximum rate of use of kilowatthours occurs during off-peak times, peco would calculate your cost per kilowatthours using only the on-peak rate of use. For example, if your congregation’s demand for electricity during weekdays were 10,000 watts (10 kilowatts), and its demand on the weekends were 20 kilowatts, peco would calculate the cost per kilowatthour using the 10 kilowatt ½gure. If you think your congregation may qualify for the Night Service Rider, call peco by using the number at the top of your monthly electric bill.

Fuel oil.

We recommend that congregations obtain service for their heating systems from someone other than the fuel oil dealer. We also suggest that they request bids for fuel oil from at least three dealers, taking the lowest responsible bid.

Summary

To determine if your congregation is purchasing the least expensive energy, you should do the following:

• Examine an electric invoice, gas invoice, and fuel oil invoice. Are you paying state sales tax?

• Have you requested bids from at least three fuel oil dealers?

Changing the Conditions in Unoccupied Buildings

Is the temperature set back in your buildings when they are not occupied? Are there appliances or equipment that are left running for no purpose? Have you visited your building early in the morning when no one is using it?

Within the religious community, even heavily used non-residential buildings are generally occupied for less than half the hours in each week. There are 168 hours in a week. A heavily-used parochial school may be occupied from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with evening and weekend activity for a total of 80 hours of weekly use. However, the building is vacant over half the time.

An early morning tour. We suggest visiting buildings at 3 or 4 a.m. at least once in the winter and once in the summer. Make a complete list of space temperatures and things that you find operating.

Here are a few items to look for:

• Space temperatures unnecessarily warm

• Pumps operating for perimeter heating or domestic hot water

• Lights burning unnecessarily

• Non-dairy vending machine lights and refrigeration operating

• Pilot lights too high on the range or in the water heater

• Empty refrigerators and freezers running

Unoccupied temperatures as low as 45° f. Clock thermostats can reduce the temperature automatically There are several models that have true 7-day programmability. An inexpensive one is the White Rogers 1F97-51, which may be purchased through Whole Energy and Hardware for $78 post-paid (800-544-2986).

If you think that water may freeze in the pipes, install freeze protection thermostats in the most critical areas. This is a standard type of thermostat, such as a Honeywell T87F2782, set at 35 to 40 degrees, and protected with a metal locked cover, such as Honeywell’s TG587F1016.

When the building is occupied, the existing thermostat regulates the temperature to keep the building comfortable. During unoccupied periods, a time clock interrupts the circuit to the existing thermostat, and the temperature is allowed to become cold until one or more of the freeze protection thermostats call for heat. In that case, the heating system would operate until the temperature was high enough to prevent water freezing in the pipes.

Here are three popular myths which often prevent congregations from lowering the temperature in their buildings when they are not occupied:

Myth #1—Low temperatures will harm the pipe organ.

We asked the members of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America if this was true. They told us that cooler temperatures may even prolong the life of pipe organs. We can supply you with the summary report or with letters from specific organ builders.

Myth #2—Low temperatures will harm the interior paint.

We spoke with representatives from a firm that has painted the inside of thousands of houses of worship. These experts told us that harm can be done by turning off the heating system altogether, but that temperatures as low as 45° f generally do no harm to interior painted surfaces. We can supply you with the article which appeared in the ice newsletter.

Energy is required to heat a cold building to comfortable temperatures, but much heating energy is saved overall when the thermostats are turned lower during unoccupied periods. Why?

Many people forget that when you turn down the thermostat, the heating system goes off completely until the lower setback temperatures are sensed by the thermostats. While the system is off, the residual heat inside furniture, walls and floors is released as the surrounding temperature cools. The amount of fuel that is saved as the warm building coasts to lower temperatures is about the same as is required to reheat the building before the next occupied period.

At cooler temperature during the unoccupied periods, the heating system runs less often, reducing the heating bills. The savings from keeping an unoccupied building cool during the winter are substantial.

Attaining and Maintaining Efficient Heating/Cooling Systems

Are you insisting that your heating systems be maintained properly? Do you know what to ask for? Does your fuel supplier also service your heating equipment?

Increase the efficiency of the burners. You do not need to know in detail how the heating system operates. You do need to know the right questions to ask your service person after he or she claims that your heating system has been checked.

For oil-fired heating system: If the service person says that the system has been tuned, ask if they measured and found that

a. the draft is no more than two hundredths inch of water column;

b. there is no more than a trace of smoke;

c. the net stack temperature is less than 400° f;

d. the co2 content of the flue gases is 10% or greater; and

e. the inside of the furnace or boiler is clean.

For gas-fired heating systems: If the service person says that the system has been tuned, ask if they measured and found that service.

a. the net stack temperature is less than 350° f;

b. the co2 content of the flue gases is 10% or greater;

c. there is no carbon monoxide in the flue gases; and

d. the inside of the furnace or boiler is clean.

We have some other hints about service. Consider independent service. Oil company service contracts can raise oil price. If you would like a sample heating system service contract written by ice, just contact us. Call neighborhood congregations for references to good heating contractors; bad reputations become apparent quickly.

Reducing the Air Flowing From the Building

Does the air rush past you as you enter the building? Are you wasting your time by weatherstripping doors and windows while heated air is rushing out of the upper parts of your building? Do you know where the heated air is escaping?

Using smoke, find out where the air is leaving the building during cold weather. Smoke from incense has the advantage of odor as well as sight. In each doorway, hold the smoke generator. Record the direction in which the air is moving. This directs you to places where heated air is escaping.

Where might these be?

• Fireplaces with open flues

• Exhaust fans

• Holes in the ceilings

• Skylights

• Belfry doors

• Open ventilation grilles

• Open boiler room doors

• Open firetower doors

• Cracks in the windows in upper parts of the building

• Leaking attic hatchways

• Elevator shafts

• Air shafts

• Openings to the roof

Close the openings and shut off unnecessary exhaust fans. Set outdoor air intake dampers at minimum settings. Use outdoor air for combustion of fuels by having a vent in the boiler room window. Not only does this save energy, but it is required by Code in commercial and institutional buildings.

Relamping Long-Burning Fixtures with Efficient Lights

Which lights burn the longest hours in your building? Are there efficient lamps in these lights? What is your policy for purchasing lamps as old ones burn out? Are you purchasing efficient lamps?

On average, electricity represents about one third of the total energy cost for congregations in the Philadelphia area, and will likely become a greater portion of the energy cost in the future. Most of the electricity is generally used for lighting. The cost for electricity to operate lights is based not only on the wattage of the lights, but on the number of hours the lights operates. If you use a thousand watts (one kilowatt), for one hour, you will be billed for one kilowatthour.

The replacement cost of a given type of more efficient lamp is about the same, but the hours use of similar lamps varies. Therefore, the return on investment for replacing inefficient lamps in fixtures that are used many hours each day will be better than replacing those in fixtures that are used just a few hours each week.

This table shows annual operating hours for various types of lights:

Adjust lighting controls.

One of the easiest ways to lower light bills involves adjusting or adding lighting time clocks for the shortest number of operating hours. When one hour is trimmed from the schedule on a 24-hour time clock, 365 hours of operating time are saved each year.

Clues for proper operating times can be found by examining the operating times of lights at neighboring facilities. Buildings in areas with a high rate of vandalism may require some light all night long.

Replace burned out lamp with efficient lamps.

When a lamp burns out, it makes no economic sense to replace it with a standard, inefficient lamp. The cost difference between efficient and inefficient lamps is too little.

The following is a list of more efficient lamps: A sound light purchase policy.

• 60-watt tungsten-halogen floods replace 150-watt floods and spots

• 100-watt high pressure sodium replaces 175-watt mercury vapor

• 34-watt fluorescent tubes replace 40-watt tubes (4 feet long)

• 60-watt fluorescent tubes replace 75-watt tubes (8 feet long)

• 7-watt fluorescent inserts replace incandescent exit sign bulbs

• Fluorescent for incandescent (such as the Phillips SL-18 bulb)

Using Domestic Hot Water that is 100° F or Cooler

Is the temperature of your hot water needlessly warmer than 100° f?

Hot water.

Measured at the tap, the temperature of the domestic hot water in the facility should be 100° F or less. This is required in all Pennsylvania state-licensed day care facilities and is common sense. A hot shower is 109° and warm water for washing hands is about 95°.

Some congregations maintain hotter temperatures for the following reasons:

"The heater was set for 140° when we got it." Why not experiment with lower settings? Some congregations shut off their gas-fired hot water heaters entirely and rely on the pilot light to heat the water. There may be no complaints. Besides, 140° is scalding hot.

"Powdered detergents do not dissolve." Use liquid detergents.

"Kitchens require hot water." It is true that the rinse cycle of a dishwasher in a kitchen that serves meals to the public must have either 180° hot water or a chemical disinfecting treatment. Almost all such dishwashers have hot water booster heaters. Do not use scalding hot water in the sinks.

"We run out of hot water." Consider restricting flow before increasing the temperature. On gas and oil hot water heaters, the temperature can be temporarily increased to provide adequate hot water for major social events. On frequently used showers, replace standard showerheads with water-saving showerheads.

We recommend wrapping blankets of additional insulation around hot water heaters. Insulation around gas-fired or oil-fired hot water heaters will have a lower return on investment in comparison with insulation on an electric water heater. We also recommend installing pipe insulation on the first few feet of hot water pipe coming from the hot water heater.

If you heat water electrically, and if you are billed for electric demand, a time clock can often save you money. Without a time clock, the electric elements can turn on when the lights and other appliances on the same electric meter are being used. This coincident use can create a peak electric demand which will increase the cost per kilowatthour.

With a timer, the electric water heater can heat domestic water during times when less electricity is being used for other purposes, such as late at night and early in the morning. This can decrease the coincident electric demand and lower the cost for electricity.

Changing Appliance Use

And how about other appliances? Do you have, as most congregations do, empty, but running refrigerators? Does your chilled drinking water fountain supply water that is too cold?

There are four recommendations that ice frequently makes in relation to appliances:

Keeping Track of Energy Use

Are you keeping track of your energy use?

Examining annual changes in energy use.

If someone in the congregation does not document changes in energy use and cost, you will never know if you are succeeding in your effort to reduce your energy bills. Also, ice would like to know about your progress, so we can share your success with other congregations. Peco Energy Company can help the religious community reduce energy costs.

The concept of avoided costs is sometimes difficult to understand. Avoided costs are derived by subtracting the current year’s use from that of the previous year, and then multiplying that difference by the current cost per energy unit. This takes into account any changes in energy costs, and presents a fairer pictures of what cost reductions were caused by conservation activities rather than those resulting from purchases of cheaper or more expensive energy. What progress did your congregation make?