Lighting and heating our homes cost much more now than it did only a year ago. The cost of electricity in the North Haven area has risen 50 percent. The costs of fuel that powers our heating systems has also seen surprisingly high rates of increase.

Forces beyond our control are propelling the demand for energy much faster than the supply can keep up. Among these forces are an emerging ‘world economic community’ as communication and logistic technologies allow previously isolated countries to ‘do business’ with each other. This economic fellowship has long-term benefits, but it also has short-term costs and discontinuities. Notably, developing nations, such as China and India, have a huge appetite for energy as they try to bring their own economic systems into the main stream of world commerce.

Another force that is affecting today’s energy prices is the current state of alternative energy technologies. Sufficient investment in alternative energy research and development had not been made early enough to blunt the effects of this demand bubble...a ‘bubble’ that was, incidentally, predicted more than 20 years ago by analysts.

Government and corporate policy makers were not paying sufficient attention to the future energy situation. Economic and political expediency has, more often than not, eclipsed the long-term need to develop energy alternatives...especially those that are sustainable and renewable. The ‘status quo’ has always been the politically safest “decision.”

Almost every energy analyst has predicted that the cost of energy will continue to rise over the foreseeable future. These predictions are based on complex mathematical models that account for not only the forces described above, but an almost uncountable number of variables that are believed to affect worldwide energy supply and demand. That energy costs will rise is not the most important conclusion provided by analysts...most of us could adjust to sufficiently ‘gradual’ changes. The real problem is that the rate of change in energy costs could easily change, literally from moment to moment as participants from more nations bid the price of the insufficient supply up...and up. Bottom Line: Analysts are not very confident in any predictions about the rate of change in energy costs during any particular period of time...which means they cannot figure out ahead of time if energy costs will rise 10-percent or 100-percent over any given period in the future. We still have to keep our buildings lit and heated...but ‘gradual’ has now been supplanted with potentially repetitive ‘catastrophic’ changes...a state that the dinosaurs found themselves in 60 million years ago.

North Haven Congregational Church is not immune to these economic realities. Its lighting and heating costs have also recently risen substantially and the future of increased energy costs is effectively unpredictable. We cannot ‘bury our heads in the sand’ and hope things will turn out right...just because we’re good people focusing on doing good works. “God helps those who help themselves!” So, how do we help ourselves so we can afford to continue to do good works?

During this past year, the Board of Finance has been investigating ways to reduce our energy costs and help insulate NHCC from the economic impact of rapidly rising energy costs into the foreseeable future. As a result of this investigation, the Antelope Project was conceived.

The Antelope Project is a four-phase project designed to: reduce the amount of purchased energy needed to operate NHCC facilities and provide a more stable and predicable pattern of energy expenses over the foreseeable future.

Goal: The goal during this Phase is to reduce the amount of energy consumed by NHCC lighting requirements by at least 50 percent.

Approach: We expect to accomplish this goal by: upgrading inefficient fixtures, replacing lights with LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) where possible, using CFLs (Compact Florescent Lights) where LED fixtures are currently either too costly or are technologically not yet available, and installing room occupation sensors to automatically shut down lighting when rooms are not in use.

Status: United Illuminating (UI) engaged Efficient Lighting & Maintenance, Inc. to audit our current lighting systems and design an upgrade project to reduce our energy consumption from lighting.

Funding: Partially paid for by UI with the remainder amortized over 36 months from the expected savings in energy costs resulting from the upgrade.

Goal: The goal for this Phase is to generate at least 30 percent of our electrical energy needs.

Approach: We can accomplish this by installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on the south-facing roof over Carroll Hall. This roof is ideally oriented for this purpose and we seek to use PV panels that will be as unobtrusive as possible.

Status: We have received four proposals and have been in conversation with representatives of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. We expect to interview several references provided by the companies who sent in proposals.

Funding: The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund provides rebates for our type of facility at a rate of about $5/watt of energy generated. The remainder will be paid by NHCC. EcoLoans, from UCC’s Cornerstone Fund, provides funding for environmentally friendly improvements is one alternative to fund NHCC’s portion. Alternatively, this project may be partially funded through a capital campaign.

Goal: To discover how and where energy is being lost through ‘leakage’ from NHCC facilities.

Approach: Evaluate the magnitude and location of unintended energy losses through a third-party energy audit of the building envelope, and propose solutions, if necessary.

Status: We expect to have Southern Connecticut Gas, our fuel provider perform an audit of our facility during the Spring of 2008.

Funding: There should be no cost for the audit itself. However, any projects proposed from this audit will have a cost. We will research state and federal programs that may help fund them.

Goal: To understand the technical and economic issues associated with our heating systems.

Approach: Evaluate our heating systems through a third-party and recommend changes, if necessary.

Status: We expect to have Southern Connecticut Gas evaluate our heating systems as part of their energy audit.

Funding: There should be no cost for the audit itself. However, any projects proposed from this audit will have a cost. We will research state and federal programs that may help fund them.

The Antelope Project is a conceptual approach to ensuring the future economic health of North Haven Congregational Church with respect to energy costs. There is lots more work to be done before we can enjoy the results of implementing this plan. The Board of Buildings & Grounds and the Board of Finance will be continuing this effort jointly. We invite others to join us in bringing this critical project to fruition.