Two California Churches Meet Their Sustainability Goals through Solar Energy and Energy Efficiency | Article

In California, two Disciples of Christ churches had the same idea to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their fossil fuel use. Mission Hills Christian Church in San Fernando, outside of Los Angeles, installed rooftop solar panels to reduce its carbon emissions and act at the intersection of environmental care and justice work. Niles Discovery Church in Fremont, near San Jose, installed a solar array to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and lower its energy costs. Both churches are certified Green Chalice churches, which means that they completed a nationwide program to lower their carbon footprints by installing solar panels, creating community gardens, and recycling. Both also have volunteer teams who have helped make the two churches more sustainable through energy and water efficiency actions, allowing them to do more good in their communities.

Mission Hills Church looks to rooftop solar for energy savings

Solar panels on Mission Hills Christian Church. Credit: Mission Hills

When Pastor Ryan Pryor began his tenure at Mission Hills Christian Church, he wanted to energize and bring meaning to the community. To do that, Pryor infused environmentalism, sustainability, and eco-spirituality into the church’s work. So, in 2017, Mission Hills created its Green Team, which followed the Disciples of Christ Church's decision to reduce its carbon pollution and become carbon neutral by 2030. After completing a series of projects like energy efficiency upgrades, recycling systems, and LED lighting replacements, Mission Hills became a certified Green Chalice church.

To receive this certification, Disciples of Christ churches must show commitment, action, and progress on a three-year rolling basis in their building, property, worship, office, and educational practices.

“Our stance in teaching is that climate change is not a personal responsibility issue but a systemic injustice that requires complete systemic economic and global energy transformation by eliminating fossil fuels, war, and more,” Pryor said.

The church incorporates this approach into its teachings, as it primarily serves community members who are disproportionately exposed to such systemic injustices. Most church members live in the Pacoima, Arleta, and San Fernando neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley, all of which are considered to be disadvantaged communities, according to the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. These communities are low-income and suffer from pollution due to the large-capacity highways crisscrossing them as well as nearby polluting facilities.

Adding solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades is one way Mission Hills is working to provide a welcoming space for the community. After a long process of selecting solar panel quotes and going through the permitting and interconnection process, Mission Hills commissioned a 100-panel 34-kilowatt (kW) rooftop solar system in June 2020. The church secured a green loan through the Disciples of Christ Extension Fund to help pay for the $90,000 solar system, including inverters, panel upgrades, and wiring. Once the loan is repaid, Mission Hills will save $13,000 annually based on its current energy usage.

In addition to installing the solar panels, Mission Hills put in energy-saving shutters that keep the sanctuary cool during the summer without much air conditioning. Both the heating and cooling systems are connected to smart thermostats to reduce energy consumption.

“Getting the solar panels installed was time intensive,” Pryor said. “It took three years from beginning to select quotes from solar installers to powering up the panels. Churches looking to install these panels must be prepared to have someone on call committed to the project for a long time before and after installing the solar panels.”

Since their installation, the solar panels have produced 85.5 megawatt hours (MWh), enough to power 12,000 homes for a year. Solar energy generated from the panels offsets all the church's energy consumption and decreases carbon emissions by 98 percent. The panels prevented about 133,963 pounds of carbon emissions in the same period. Because of its energy efficiency retrofits and smart thermostats, the church experiences months when more solar energy is produced than consumed. When Mission Hills' panels make surplus energy, its monthly electric bill is credited for the excess power sent back to the grid.

“The solar panels are a visual reminder of our environmental and spiritual commitment to caring for the Earth,” Pryor said. “Solar panels are great, and we save a lot of money thanks to them. We put solar panels to start a conversation about solar energy, its benefits, and how our members can install them in their homes.”

Community garden at Mission Hills Christian Church. Credit: Mission Hills

As Pastor Pryor is the only person who works full-time at Mission Hills, he used the guidelines and resources from the Green Chalice Challenge to get started on sustainability initiatives in the church. Since 2017, on two acres of land owned by the church, Mission Hills has worked with community members to manage a garden of local plants to offer green spaces and fresh produce for the community. Over the years, the community has embraced the garden, and now families maintain their individual beds located on church grounds, including vegetable gardens producing chard, kale, and eggplant.

“We serve a working-class community in the San Fernando Valley that is under-resourced when it comes to green spaces,” Pryor said. “We want a place connected to the community that the community is proud of by providing resources. Mission Hills is a hub for people to listen to others and to learn about sustainability and eco-spirality.”

A solar array at Niles Discovery Church keeps the lights on for less

Bill Palleschi, a volunteer member at Niles Discovery Church, wanted his community church to be more sustainable and green. He was eager to help install solar panels in the church to reduce carbon emissions and decrease their reliance on fossil fuel-generated power. In coordination with Senior Pastor Jeff Spencer, Palleschi’s efforts came to fruition when the 23.5 kW rooftop solar system was installed in 2016.

A $25,000 bequest from a deceased church member to create a sustainable project spurred the church to install the 86-panel solar array. Purchasing solar panels and fitting them on the church’s roof to generate clean electricity was thought to be a great use of the funds. Additional financing for the system resulted from a successful green fundraising campaign by Palleschi and Spencer.

“To pay for the installation, we ran a green campaign which raised about $65,000 in just two weeks, exceeding all expectations of raising $45,000,” Palleschi said. “We used a 'barn-raising' approach to save money on the installation by using community volunteers to help offload the solar panels from trucks and help with the wiring. Solar contractors performed the actual installation.”

Their $65,000 solar system generates about 31,500-kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, helping the church save about $5,400 in energy costs per year. Solar-generated energy helps power most of the church’s electrical needs, such as lighting, kitchen appliances, and security measures.

Thanks to the net metering laws in California, the church can sell surplus solar-generated energy to the grid and receive a bill-credit compensation for it. During midday hours, the solar panels generate more energy than is consumed. The church then sells the energy to the power grid and receives utility bill credits, which lowers monthly electricity bills.

“Installing renewable energy upgrades is a learning process; it is not easy,” Palleschi said. “First, it is an uphill battle with the contractors to get the best price for the solar panel. Then, there are negotiations with the electrical utility regarding interconnection and net metering benefits. Once the solar panels are installed, there is maintenance, upkeep, and monitoring.”

Energized by the successful solar panel installation on the church roof, Spencer installed energy efficiency upgrades and a 7.89 kW rooftop solar system in 2020 at the parsonage (the parson’s personal residence, which belongs to the ministry).

The parsonage is a mid-1950s building that became part of Niles Discovery Church when it was founded in 2012. To improve efficiency and lower energy costs, attic and wall insulation were added where there was none. An air-source heat pump was installed in 2020 to replace a gas furnace. Replacing the furnace with more efficient equipment powered by solar panels resulted in $250 in annual energy savings.

Solar-generated energy also charges an electric vehicle owned by the church, which helps significantly reduce gas bills and dependency on fossil fuel infrastructure. Thanks to the solar panels and the electric vehicle, the parsonage's total energy costs have decreased by two-thirds, from $1,150 annually in 2019 to $250 in 2022. This means about $900 in total annual savings, which are invested back into the church’s activities.

Niles Discovery Church Parsonage Energy Costs and Savings
	Annual direct gas and electricity costs	Annual gasoline costs	Total costs
2019	$550	$600	$1,150
2022	$250	$0	$250

Because Niles Discovery Church generates more energy than it consumes, its next project is to install battery storage devices to capture solar power generated by the solar panels during midday hours. While most of this energy is now sold back to the grid for revenue, it can also be stored for later use. With changes to California's net metering law and utility costs, it is more economical for the church to store solar energy during the day and then release it during the evening when consumption is highest. With battery storage, the church can become an emergency shelter for community members in need following an extreme weather event, extremely hot and cold days, or an earthquake.

“The climate crisis is the moral issue of our time,” Spencer said. “It is a threat that intersects with race, gender, sexuality, and economic inequality. Anything that we can do to reduce the threat is a moral thing to do. Installing solar panels in the church and at the parsonage and advocating for policies that stop the burning of fossil fuels are actions to tackle the climate crisis. They are also moral actions.”

Author: Miguel Yañez-Barnuevo