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When devastating floods hit Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1997, the basement and parts of the first floor of First Presbyterian Church's 90-year-old brick facility filled with flood water.

After the flood waters receded, church leaders assessed the damage. It soon became clear that the building was no longer usable. The congregation voted to sell the old 25,000 square-foot building and to construct a new 13,500 square-foot facility. In consultation with neighboring environmental groups as well as architects and engineers, First Presbyterian planned a new, energy-efficient church.

The congregation asked the builders to use insulated windows, extra building insulation, a ground-water heat pump to warm the church—even a few passive solar panels. "Any energy-efficient methods you use will save you money," says Pastor Gretchen Daneke-Graf. "But building this way is also a witness to environmental integrity, to stewardship of the environment. The stewardship issue was even more important to us than the cost savings."

If you want your church building to be energy-efficient, you must make that concern known to the builder, engineer, and/or architect that you work with, says Brian Rawlston, church project manager at Morton Buildings. Rawlston suggests that churches work with a builder who is familiar with churches and their unique needs because the energy-use patterns of churches are very different from those of other buildings. While a house or office requires relatively constant energy use during the week, a church's energy use tends to peak on Sundays and lessen dramatically during the rest of the week. A builder who understands this will be better able to design a church that operates at optimal energy efficiency.

As other congregations have discovered, making a church more energy efficient not only helps protect the environment; it also saves money. For example, when Georgetown Gospel Chapel in Seattle made its existing church buildings more energy-efficient, it cut $5,000 a year from its annual budget of $55,000. That money is now used for missions, a Christian camp, and enhanced community outreach (including a community garden).

Here are ways to make your new church building more energy-efficient as well as friendly to the environment:

1. Schedule energy use. Experts estimate that at least three-fourths of a church's energy costs go toward keeping facilities comfortable during the days when the facilities are used. That includes cooling warm rooms, warming cool rooms, and removing high levels of humidity. "The majority of churches use their complete structure only a few days a week," Rawlston says. "Most of the heating and cooling requirements are for when people are in the building."

Rawlston suggests reducing heating and cooling costs by installing a system that shuts off fresh air requirements when the church is not in use. Many congregations that build new churches opt for a computerized system that controls when and where fresh air, light, heat, and air conditioning go to various parts of the church.

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