New: Energy Star Toolkit for Houses of Worship

The EPA now provides Energy Star toolkits to help houses of worship become more energy efficient. (it was news to me that the EPA already has free Energy Star toolkits for other facilities like schools, retail businesses and the healthcare industry).

The toolkit helps building managers track energy usage, climate change emissions, set goals for emissions cuts and energy efficiency, and prioritize investments in efficiency upgrades. They also get:

• Technical support from Energy Star
• “How-to” guide for analyzing and upgrading the facility (including a detailed Building Upgrade Manual)
• Energy equipment and service contractors and utilities
• Information about Energy Star labeled products
• National and local recognition
• Public relations materials to promote your efforts
• Marketing Resources

There are about 370,000 houses of worship in the U.S.; if they improved their energy efficiency by 10 percent, they would prevent more than 1 million tons of climate change emissions and represent a cost savings of about $315 million a year.

Houses of worship that use the Energy Star toolkit and meet standards for the program could earn a performance rating and the Energy Star label for their congregation buildings.

via Energy Star and GreenerBuildings.com