Audit of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis for the
Application to Become a Candidate for Green Sanctuary Status
Completed in January 2006

Overview

Members of the Green Sanctuary Committee with the help of others in the congregation have done a series of baseline reports on different aspects of the church including the inclusion of the UU seventh principle, the environment, sustainability and other related topics in our Religious Education Programs and Church Services. We asked the Board and Office staff about the use of recycled materials, church policies, and investments. The committee reviewed the church’s outreach projects relative to environmental justice issues. In addition, a subcommittee of energy engineers, who are members of the church, did a professional audit of the entire church campus. The head of the subcommittee, Steve Brennan, has prepared a 30+page audit document, which includes the recommendations of the subcommittee. Steve’s summary audit and the major recommendations are included below as part of this report. The recommendations that came out of each of the separate audits informed and determined the projects included in the Action Plan.

Worship: Audit and Recommendations

In the past two church years, the UU Church of Davis has had very limited inclusion of Earth or environmental issues in our services. Of all the regular Sunday services of the past two years, only one has been devoted to the environment. CUUPS, which appeals to a subset of the congregation, has had some special services or rituals to mark Beltane or the turning of the seasons. In general, worship services may include the occasional reading or song that is Earth related. At this time, there is no overall guiding plan that assures the inclusion of the seventh principle on a regular basis over the course of a year.

Recommendations/Goals: The UU Church of Davis could enrich worship and celebrations through greater inclusion of a joyful theology of earth justice, morality, and spiritual connection and to affirm and promote our seventh principle of “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part” by addressing environmental, sustainability, and environmental justice issues. Specific suggestions have been incorporated into the Action Plan.

Co-chair of the committee, Judy Moores, met with the Senior Minister, Rev. Banks, to discuss the whole project in general and the worship aspects in particular. Rev. Banks has discussed Green Sanctuary with the church’s Worship Associates and together they made suggestions for the projects related to worship, which have been integrated into the Action Plan.

Religion Exploration/Education: Audit and Recommendations

Audit: During the past two years, there does not seem to have been any concerted effort to include environment or sustainability topics in the children’s and youth’s education programs of the church. Nor have the church covenant groups and adult education focused on such topics, although a few years ago one adult R.E. class did look at incorporating simplicity into their lives. Judy Moores met with the current Religious Exploration Assistant to talk about ways to include the environment and other related topics in the R.E. program. A church member who has served on the Green Sanctuary Committee, teaches the pre-school R.E. class and has made a point of including topics, such as trees, and taking the children out to explore the church grounds. At this time, the church is in the process of searching for a second minister, who will have R.E. as a significant part of the job description. Once that person is hired, it will be easier to plan for the future.

General Recommendations: The UU Church of Davis needs to develop or obtain curricula that would introduce congregants to the complexities of environmental problems and offer lessons, classes or covenant groups for both adults and children. We also need to build a greater connection and appreciation of Earth starting with our own church grounds and watershed areas with the goal of bringing them into right relations with Earth such that they experience a spiritual connection with Earth and develop, in the words of Jim Scott, “a deep happiness, joyous wonder and unshakeable satisfaction with life.” The Green Sanctuary Committee would like to help our church find ways to live our faith that are best for Earth as well as our community. Also, we want to include activities that involve all age groups and are fun. Some specific recommendations are included in the Action Plan.

Community Outreach Church (relative to Environmental Justice Concerns): Audit and Recommendations

While few of the outreach and charitable efforts of the church relate directly to the environment, many efforts do address social justice issues, which have an environmental component: food collections for the local food closets, donations to Heifers International, Solar Cookers International, Flood Relief, etc. The Peace and Justice Committee has pursued a number of social justice and peace issues such as the death penalty, marriage rights, and anti-war efforts.

Recommendations for Environmental Justice: The Green Sanctuary Committee encourages the Church to continue its charitable outreach efforts and strive to include more charities that have sustainable environmental components or that work for eco-justice. The Green Sanctuary Committee plans to work with the Peace and Justice Committee to present a series of forums on current Environmental topics with a justice component, and to open the forums to the interfaith community. As part of the forums, individuals need to be encouraged to participate in the democratic process by voting and writing letters relative to the topics under discussion and to take direct action if appropriate. The Action Plan includes specific ideas for carrying out these recommendations.

Sustainability and Church Investing: Audit and Recommendations

As the City of Davis recycles paper, metal cans, some plastics, and glass, the church has participated in this recycling effort for a number of years. Many rooms have separate wastebaskets for recyclables, although this needs to be reviewed more carefully and checked for consistency.

The church has no policies regarding investments. At this time, none of the church investments have been chosen with consideration of our environmental and social values nor does the church have any written policies to govern or control church investments.

The GS Committee recommends that the church board set and implement policies recommending the purchase and use of janitorial supplies, including toilet paper that are minimally hurtful of the environment, that the church work with the congregation when planning any building or remodeling to build “green” by using sustainable materials, incorporating energy efficiency and solar power and to install solar power sufficient to take care of a major portion of the energy needs of the church.

The GS Committee recommends that the church board review the elements of green investing and then develop and implement policies to invest a significant percent of its investments according to good ethical investing that reflects our values as a church as well as giving a return on investment. The UUA General Investment Fund should be considered as a vehicle to participate in socially responsible investing.

The Committee has been in contact with several members of the Board concerning policy issues. One Board member serves as a liaison to the GS committee and attends its meetings. The Action Plan includes specific ideas for carrying out a number of these recommendations.

Energy Audit: Summary and Recommendations

Introduction:

Two energy efficiency engineers, both members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis (UUCD), performed two cursory walk-through audits on the buildings of the campus to assess the buildings for energy savings opportunities. In addition to the walk-through assessments, an energy bill analysis was performed as well as some research into alternative energy solutions to and financing mechanisms to pay for them. The ultimate goal of the energy efficiency plan proposed by the Audit Report is to achieve net zero-energy consumption for the UUCD campus.

Site Description:

The UUCD campus is located on Patwin Road, south and east of the Russell/Road 98 intersection in Davis, CA. The campus consists of four buildings: The Meeting House/Great Hall, the Bridge House, the Office/Library and the Caretakers Cottage. The property has three parking areas, one paved and two unpaved. There are trees on much of the property, shading more than 50% of the land and buildings, which limits possible solar panel locations. See the following audit results section for a description of each of the buildings and a discussion of the energy usage issues.

Audits Results:

The audit began with a review of the energy bills for the campus for the last three years. The campus is split onto two sets of meters, each set consisting of one electric meter and one gas meter, with one set serving the Sanctuary and Offices (abbreviated O/C on chart), and the other serving the Bridge House and Cottage (abbreviated BH on chart). The monthly energy consumption data was entered into a spreadsheet and reviewed for usage patterns and disaggregation. A plot of the data collected can be seen below in Figure 1:



Figure 1 – Chart showing gas and electric use for the UUCD campus. A rough disaggregation shows the following conclusions:
• Gas use is very highly dependent on space heating requirements. Very little water heating is required despite the storage losses of the existing heaters. This applies to the entire campus. The Offices use 2 to 2.5 times the gas used by the Bridge House.
• The base daily use for the Bridge House and Cottage is approximately 25 kWh per day.
• The blower on the Bridge House furnace uses up to 6 kWh per day in the heating season.
• The blower and compressor unit together consume up to between 20 and 26 kWh per day in the cooling season.
• The Church/Office portion of the campus draws around 59 kWh per day as a base. This includes the water pump.
• Summer electrical energy use spiked in June of 2003, probably because of a heat wave or because the Library was kept conditioned that year. Maintenance records may reflect a problem that was found and fixed around that time.
• The usage from 2002 and 2004 indicate that the blower and compressor units consume approximately 20 to 25 kWh/day during the Cooling season.
• Despite the larger amount of gas used by the Office/Sanctuary complex, the electrical draw in the Winter indicates little increase in use due to the blower in the furnace. This could mean that the HVAC system in the Offices (at least the air moving portion of it) is very efficient.

The Bridge House and Cottage are on a Time-of-Use meter, which keeps track of peak and off peak energy usage and charges a lower rate for off-peak. The remainder of the campus is on a standard rate. Considering usage patterns for the two sets of buildings, these rates make sense for now. However, it may be desirable to change the rates all to Time-of-Use when photovoltaic panels are installed to capitalize on the excess energy generated during peak hours.

The walk through audits of the campus identified many Energy Savings Opportunities (ESOs) in almost all of the buildings. The transition to a net zero energy design would require changing out the gas appliances for electric equipment and installing PhotoVoltaics to generate the energy needed. The following are brief descriptions of the ESOs found in each building:

Meeting House:

The Meeting House contains the Sanctuary, which is the main gathering place for the congregation. It has an oval footprint and a steeply angled roof with a vaulted ceiling (it is assumed that the Sanctuary is well insulated based on Marshall Hunt’s knowledge of the building). At the peak of the building there is a rectangular convection stack with operable louvers and exhaust fans. The top of the stack is a clear, fixed skylight. The floor is slab on grade with terraced landings arranged in an amphitheater ¾ circle around the focal point of the room (the pulpit/stage). Behind the pulpit there are four sets of double doors with full glass panes. There are heavy curtains that are pulled across in front of these doors when the building is not in use.

The entry hall to the Meeting House, or Great Hall, is to the North of the Meeting House. At the North end, there are doors opening to the kitchen/dining area, which then continues on to two bathrooms and two multi-use rooms. The Great Hall has tinted, aluminum windows covering most of the walls on both sides and solid wood double doors at three ends.

Most of the opportunities lie in the design of the forthcoming remodel of these buildings. The roof of the sanctuary is in good shape and may be reused as the roof of the new structure. The new walls, windows and HVAC system will be designed with the help of energy experts and the Green Sanctuary committee to ensure optimal energy efficiency. This process will utilize energy modeling tools to find the best solutions.

Offices/Library:

This building consists of 3 offices and a large Library and Meeting room in addition to two bathrooms and a Foyer/mini-kitchen. This complex was built in the early 90s and the windows are dual-pane aluminum with improved thermal break and unknown glazing properties (but suspect plain glass). Walls are 2x6 construction and insulation is assumed to be R19 batt (wall R value will probably be between 12 and 14 considering standard installation procedures). The roof is a flat tar and gravel roof built on 2x10 ceiling joists with R30 batt insulation. The space above the insulation is vented to the outside. There are separate central heating and air systems for the offices and the library.

The South and West windows in the Library need shade-screens to help attenuate the solar gain in the summer. The HVAC systems are close to 15 years old and are due for replacement in the near future, which fits in with the plan to switch over to non-gas appliances. These changes, combined with thermostat program reviews and corrections, should bring this building up to optimal performance. Policies will be put in place to address future improvements as need for remodel arises.

Bridge House/Rosebud Montessori:

The building was originally built as a 4-classroom structure with a kitchen, a foyer and two bathrooms. Two rooms were later added on the East end of the building. The building is used quite a bit on a daily basis during the school year as it functions as a Montessori Pre-School. It is also used on Sundays for Religious Exploration. The windows on this building are single-pane, aluminum frame, and the roof and walls are constructed with ~ R11 batts, giving this building a very low score for energy efficiency. The HVAC equipment is quite old and has some performance issues, and more than half the lighting in the building is out-of-data.

The Bridge House offers many opportunities for energy efficiency improvement, both short- and long-term. Short-term, measures that are no- or low-cost include: thermostat program reviews, ceiling fan operation reviews, insulating water heater and piping, lighting retrofit and sunscreens on west facing windows. In the longer term, policies and plans need to be put into place to ensure that the windows are replaced with higher quality units, and that the roof and walls get additional insulation.

The Caretakers Cottage:

This building is on the West end of the campus. It is an old house that was salvaged from the UCD campus. It has one large meeting/living/dining room, a smaller bedroom/kitchen, and a small bathroom. Recently there has been some remodeling done to allow the building to be reclassified as a meetinghouse. This building is used infrequently with no set pattern. The windows are single pane, wood frame and insulation in the walls, ceiling and floor is minimal. The floor is raised and the ceiling is a standard flat ceiling with an attic above. The building is equipped with an old natural gas space furnace and the lighting consists of mostly old ceiling fixtures with incandescent bulbs. Because this building is seldom used and contributes little to the energy consumption of the campus, we recommend that nothing be done at this time, but that policies be put in place for the replacement of appliances as they fail and the improvement of the envelope as the need for remodeling arises.

Trees and shading:

Much of the campus is planted with trees and bushes, both young and mature. Although the shading provided by these trees is valuable because it reduces the solar gains on the buildings and provides shaded spaces for outdoor activities, the trees greatly limit the potential locations for solar panels. The natural beauty of the campus must be preserved, as well as the solar benefits of the trees, so suggestions for energy efficiency retrofits do not recommend the removal of any trees. At most, some trees will need to be reshaped by minor trimming and kept to a certain height with annual maintenance. These will be minor changes.

Pump for water:

There is a pump behind the office with a pressure tank to supply water to the campus. It is a 5 hp pump (approx 5kW) and it operates much of the time. The existence of a pump adds a new dimension to the energy issues of the campus. Any leaks or running toilets become a waste of electric energy in addition to a waste of water. A study is recommended to correlate the water usage with pump operation to determine if there is a constant leak underground somewhere. It will also be recommended that all the water fixtures be maintained or updated to minimize water waste.

Recommendations:

The following is a matrix that summarizes the ESOs that were identified*:

ESO #	Measure	Timeline	Buildings	Cost	Priority
1	Lighting Retrofit	Immediate	All	Low to Mid	Med
2	HVAC Tuneup	Immediate	O, BH	Mid	High
3	HVAC Retrofit	Mid	All	High	High
4	Envelope Upgrades	Mid to Long	MH, BH	Mid to High	Med to High (High for BH)
5	Plumbing Updates and Pump monitoring	Immediate	BH	Low to Mid	High
6	Miscellaneous	Varies	All	Low to Mid	Med
7	Renewable Energy Generation	Mid to Long	BH	High	High

*Please see complete report for explanations of the ESOs.

Our recommendations for implementing energy savings measures over the next 18 months are as follows:

1. Low-cost and no-cost measures
• Review thermostat programming to ensure optimal strategy
• Insulate tank water heaters and pipes
• Lighting Retrofit
• HVAC tune-up
• Shade screens on windows where needed
• Plumbing fixtures and leak detection
• Get rid of unused appliances that consume energy
• Ceiling fan use review, install instructions for use near switch

2. Install PhotoVoltaic System
• Raise capital and purchase PV system using Sustainable Stewardship Church Solar Program
• Install 30kW of PV on a trellis in north parking lot (this should supply 100% of current electric use)

3. Plan energy efficiency designs for existing buildings and buildings under design.
Meet with Building committee to:
• Discuss maintenance and improvements to current buildings (including upgrades to envelopes, upgrades to HVAC equipment, solar hot water, etc)
• Discuss buildings under design and energy efficiency issues surrounding those buildings (orientation, envelope design, roofing, possibilities for solar on roofs.)
• Get buy-in for zero energy campus strategy
• Finalize building envelope design strategies and window choices.

4. Establish policies for how to address construction and maintenance issues
• Draft construction and maintenance policies
• Finalize with input from building committee and board.

It is our conclusion that there are many opportunities to increase the efficiency of the energy use of the UUCD campus, and to generate the energy needed on site. It would be desirable to set Zero-Energy as our goal. The logistics of designing such a system will be challenging, but the technology and financing mechanisms exist to make this a reality.