Help Your Congregation Win a $10,000 Energy Efficiency Upgrade

West Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (WVIPL) is partnering with Appalachian Power Company (APCO) to help congregations and non-profit organizations become more energy efficient beginning this month.

Emmett Pepper, member of the WVIPL Steering Committee and director of Energy Efficient West Virginia notes that “thanks to EEWV’s advocacy work, AEP has a new, significant, free efficiency program for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers.”

On Sunday, May 17 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. representatives from congregations and other non-profits are invited to an Energy Assessment training, to be conducted by Jim Fawcett, manager of APCO’s Energy Efficient and Alternative Energies Initiative. The training will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 520 Kanawha Boulevard West, Charleston.

By attending this training and taking follow-up steps, you could help your congregation be in the running to win a $10,000 energy efficiency upgrade! Details on how to compete for the prize are below.

Admission on May 17 event is free; however, WVIPL seeks to make energy efficiency available to all, so those attending are encouraged to collect and bring collect energy efficient light bulbs from members of their congregation (either CFL or LED). These light bulbs will then be made available to food pantries and disaster relief efforts. A free will offering during the event will go towards purchasing energy efficient light bulbs for the same purpose.

After the Energy Assessment training, a congregation motivates its members and friends to get a free home Energy Assessment, which should help households lower their electric bills. Each household that participates “earns” $10 (ten dollars) worth of energy efficiency upgrades for the congregation where they are a member or friend. You do not have to be a home owner to participate – the Assessment is open to renters with their landlord’s permission.

(A congregation or other non-profit may also directly sign up with APCO for a training at other times and places.)

During a home Energy Assessment, a trained energy contractor comes to your home to give you expert advice tailored to your home on how to reduce your energy bills. Each participating household receives a “goody box” of items such as high efficiency light bulbs, pipe insulation and low-flow faucet attachments, to help start saving energy immediately.

At the end of the competition, in May, 2016, AEP will add up how many home Energy Assessments were logged for each congregation or nonprofit. The congregation or nonprofit that gets the most people to do home Energy Assessments will get a $10,000 energy efficiency upgrade for its building!

West Virginia Interfaith Power and Light offers people of faith a religious response to global warming. More than 40 states are part of Interfaith Power and Light which engages faith communities and individuals in collective action, from education on climate change, to energy saving activities, to policy advocacy.

For additional information about the Energy Assessments or WVIPL, contact Emmett Pepper at emmett@eewv.org (energy audits) and Rev. Rose Edington (OVEC’s chair) or Rev. Mel Hoover at 304-346-6645 (May 17 event).