About the project
The All Saints solar panel project is designed to use the free power of the sun that God gives us every day to replace 85% of the power that we currently purchase from utilities every year. That amounts to over $5,000 per year.
We believe that the solar panels allow us to practice good stewardship in several ways:
Financial Implications
Implementing this project required two important initial investments:
1. Purchase and installation of the solar panels
2. Purchase and installation of the technology used to get power from the solar panels to our church outlets
This project was designed with the goal of implementation without taking funds out of existing resources or budget lines. Our plan was greatly helped by the work that our mission partners Jeff Cherwinka and Jerry Sieling had done in 2017, as well as consultation with local meteorologist Bob Lindmeier. Bob has been instrumental in the solar project at St. John's in Oregon and serves on the Care for Creation Team for the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), of which All Saints is a part. We also received helpful information from Temple Beth El in Madison about their solar energy project.
Panels
Jeff Cherwinka led the committee in producing a successful grant to the Solar For Good Program. This grant supplied our panels free of charge. The balance of costs for installation and ownership of the panels will be paid through a partnership between Chox Engineering LLC and All Saints, set up through the Legacy Solar Energy Coop. Under this arrangement, Chox will leverage the financial benefits of tax credits from installing renewable energy. Over the next six years, All Saints will repay Chox the balance using energy savings as our panels harness the power of the sun.
AC Power Supply
While that agreement through Legacy Solar Coop means that CHOX technically owns our panels, All Saints needed to own the AC Power Supply. As stated above, we were determined to make this project happen without impact our regular giving or our annual budget, specifically asking that gifts toward this project were made in addition to, not instead of, annual faith pledges that support the ongoing work of our church.
The cost of the AC technology and installation was approximately $10,000. Thanks to a challenge pledge of $5,000 from one of our mission partners, matching other gifts 1:1, we were able to raise even more than we needed! Those additional funds will help to make the annual payments to CHOX for the benefits of renewable energy, helping us to see an even larger immediate savings to our budget.
We believe that the solar panels allow us to practice good stewardship in several ways:
- It will bring the amount budgeted for electrical energy to an estimated $525 from around $6,000/year.
- Our electrical utility costs will not be subject to future increases since solar power is free.
- We will be stewarding God's creation by reducing our carbon footprint.
- This project will allow us to learn about, and then teach others, about harnessing free power from the sun.
Financial Implications
Implementing this project required two important initial investments:
1. Purchase and installation of the solar panels
2. Purchase and installation of the technology used to get power from the solar panels to our church outlets
This project was designed with the goal of implementation without taking funds out of existing resources or budget lines. Our plan was greatly helped by the work that our mission partners Jeff Cherwinka and Jerry Sieling had done in 2017, as well as consultation with local meteorologist Bob Lindmeier. Bob has been instrumental in the solar project at St. John's in Oregon and serves on the Care for Creation Team for the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), of which All Saints is a part. We also received helpful information from Temple Beth El in Madison about their solar energy project.
Panels
Jeff Cherwinka led the committee in producing a successful grant to the Solar For Good Program. This grant supplied our panels free of charge. The balance of costs for installation and ownership of the panels will be paid through a partnership between Chox Engineering LLC and All Saints, set up through the Legacy Solar Energy Coop. Under this arrangement, Chox will leverage the financial benefits of tax credits from installing renewable energy. Over the next six years, All Saints will repay Chox the balance using energy savings as our panels harness the power of the sun.
AC Power Supply
While that agreement through Legacy Solar Coop means that CHOX technically owns our panels, All Saints needed to own the AC Power Supply. As stated above, we were determined to make this project happen without impact our regular giving or our annual budget, specifically asking that gifts toward this project were made in addition to, not instead of, annual faith pledges that support the ongoing work of our church.
The cost of the AC technology and installation was approximately $10,000. Thanks to a challenge pledge of $5,000 from one of our mission partners, matching other gifts 1:1, we were able to raise even more than we needed! Those additional funds will help to make the annual payments to CHOX for the benefits of renewable energy, helping us to see an even larger immediate savings to our budget.
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