<\/p>\n
March 5, 2024<\/p>\n Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park Receives Major Grant for <\/strong><\/p>\n Transformational Solar Energy Project <\/strong><\/p>\n In February 2024, the City of Chicago awarded Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park and Lutheran Campus Ministry a $233,880 Chicago Recovery Plan (CRP) grant. The grant, a part of the CRP\u2019s Climate Infrastructure Fund, will support the cost of a solar project to transform Augustana\u2019s energy use. Funding for the CRP came partially from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.<\/p>\n With a two-year implementation window, the grant will underwrite re-roofing a portion of Augustana\u2019s building followed by the installation of 102 solar panels on top of the new roofing. As a part of the solar installation, new electrical work in the building will allow the congregation to use the panels to power its electricity needs.<\/p>\n According to the Rev. Nancy Goede, Augustana\u2019s parish pastor, \u201cChristians are called to be stewards in every aspect of life, both at church and at home. We’re also called to care for the created world. This project is a great way to connect our desire to be wise stewards of our facility with moving in a new direction to reduce energy consumption and counter climate change. It allows us to move away from fossil fuels, and to demonstrate to other religious communities and our neighbors that this is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Augustana\u2019s grant proposal arose from discussions within its Green Team. Led by co-chairs Elizabeth Roma and Shirley Wilson-Sigler, the Green Team is a working group dedicated to connecting the congregation\u2019s spiritual practices and traditions with solutions for climate change and environmental justice issues.<\/p>\n Green Team member Jim Schwab led the effort to develop and write the proposal. According to Schwab, \u201cSolar energy is one of several renewable energy technologies that are critical in moving communities and nations away from reliance on fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas that add greenhouse gases to the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Solar rooftops are an ideal way also of decentralizing energy production. In the event of a grid failure during a disaster, they also allow buildings like churches, schools, and businesses to continue generating their own clean energy, enhancing community resilience in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n Engineers estimate that, at times, Augustana\u2019s solar array will produce more electricity than needed and that excess will be sold back to the grid, while at other times the congregation will continue to supplement power from the solar panels with electricity purchased from the grid. Averaged over time, the engineers predict that the energy generated will exceed Augustana\u2019s current electrical usage.<\/p>\n The grant, administered by Chicago\u2019s Department of Planning and Development, will reimburse Augustana\u2019s costs. The congregation is securing short-term financing to bridge the gap between incurring the expenses and receiving the grant\u2019s reimbursements, according to the congregation\u2019s treasurer, Carolyn Rahaman.<\/p>\n A goal of the Climate Infrastructure Fund is to support projects that serve as examples for the community. “We pray that this project will offer an urgent yet hopeful message to our neighbors,\u201d according to Augustana\u2019s campus pastor, the Rev. Matthew Stuhlmuller. \u201cEarth’s climate is changing, and all of us need to reimagine our use of the earth’s resources. Both religious and civic organizations can play a key role in modeling sustainable practices for the whole community to follow. Solar energy is only one piece in a much larger puzzle, but together, our combined efforts can generate an outsized impact for generations to come.”<\/p>\n For more information, contact:<\/p>\n Parish and Facilities Administrator<\/p>\n Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park and Lutheran Campus Ministry<\/p>\n 5500 S. Woodlawn Avenue<\/p>\n Chicago, Illinois 60637<\/p>\n 773.493.6451<\/p>\n office@augustanahydepark.org<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost all content on this blog is written by me. On rare occasions, I have hosted a guest writer when I decided it was appropriate. In this case, I am sharing an announcement from my own church, which is entering an agreement with the City of Chicago for a grant to support installing a solar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"Almost all content on this blog is written by me. On rare occasions, I have hosted a guest writer when I decided it was appropriate. In this case, I am sharing an announcement from my own church, which is entering an agreement with the City of Chicago for a grant to support installing a solar energy system on its roof. I am elated to share this news and my own role as both grant writer and primary contact for an administrative team that will work with the city to implement this dynamic project.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nJim Schwab<\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n <\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,997,179,1255,109,178,381,358,272,222],"tags":[1363,383,2278,2274,2273,2279,2277,1900,2276,2275],"class_list":["post-2011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago","category-christianity","category-climate-2","category-energy-conservation","category-environment","category-government","category-infrastructure","category-public-policy","category-renewable-energy","category-resilience-2","tag-augustana-lutheran-church","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-department-of-planning-and-development","tag-chicago-recovery-plan","tag-climate-infrastructure-fund","tag-electricity","tag-green-team","tag-nancy-goede","tag-rooftop","tag-solar-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2011"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.jimschwab.com\/Hablarbooks\/staging\/1734\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/chicago-recovery-plan-social.c3d5ad7c7f2a.webp\")
<\/a>Augustana Solar Project Announcement<\/p>\n<\/a>Augustana Solar Project Announcement\r\n\r\nMarch 5, 2024\r\n\r\nAugustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park Receives Major Grant for <\/strong>\r\n\r\nTransformational Solar Energy Project <\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn February 2024, the City of Chicago awarded Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park and Lutheran Campus Ministry a $233,880 Chicago Recovery Plan (CRP) grant. The grant, a part of the CRP\u2019s Climate Infrastructure Fund, will support the cost of a solar project to transform Augustana\u2019s energy use. Funding for the CRP came partially from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.\r\n\r\nWith a two-year implementation window, the grant will underwrite re-roofing a portion of Augustana\u2019s building followed by the installation of 102 solar panels on top of the new roofing. As a part of the solar installation, new electrical work in the building will allow the congregation to use the panels to power its electricity needs.\r\n\r\nAccording to the Rev. Nancy Goede, Augustana\u2019s parish pastor, \u201cChristians are called to be stewards in every aspect of life, both at church and at home. We're also called to care for the created world. This project is a great way to connect our desire to be wise stewards of our facility with moving in a new direction to reduce energy consumption and counter climate change. It allows us to move away from fossil fuels, and to demonstrate to other religious communities and our neighbors that this is possible.\u201d\r\n\r\nAugustana\u2019s grant proposal arose from discussions within its Green Team. Led by co-chairs Elizabeth Roma and Shirley Wilson-Sigler, the Green Team is a working group dedicated to connecting the congregation\u2019s spiritual practices and traditions with solutions for climate change and environmental justice issues.\r\n\r\nGreen Team member Jim Schwab led the effort to develop and write the proposal. According to Schwab, \u201cSolar energy is one of several renewable energy technologies that are critical in moving communities and nations away from reliance on fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas that add greenhouse gases to the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Solar rooftops are an ideal way also of decentralizing energy production. In the event of a grid failure during a disaster, they also allow buildings like churches, schools, and businesses to continue generating their own clean energy, enhancing community resilience in the process.\u201d\r\n\r\nEngineers estimate that, at times, Augustana\u2019s solar array will produce more electricity than needed and that excess will be sold back to the grid, while at other times the congregation will continue to supplement power from the solar panels with electricity purchased from the grid. Averaged over time, the engineers predict that the energy generated will exceed Augustana\u2019s current electrical usage.\r\n\r\nThe grant, administered by Chicago\u2019s Department of Planning and Development, will reimburse Augustana\u2019s costs. The congregation is securing short-term financing to bridge the gap between incurring the expenses and receiving the grant\u2019s reimbursements, according to the congregation\u2019s treasurer, Carolyn Rahaman.\r\n\r\nA goal of the Climate Infrastructure Fund is to support projects that serve as examples for the community. \"We pray that this project will offer an urgent yet hopeful message to our neighbors,\u201d according to Augustana\u2019s campus pastor, the Rev. Matthew Stuhlmuller. \u201cEarth's climate is changing, and all of us need to reimagine our use of the earth's resources. Both religious and civic organizations can play a key role in modeling sustainable practices for the whole community to follow. Solar energy is only one piece in a much larger puzzle, but together, our combined efforts can generate an outsized impact for generations to come.\"\r\n\r\nFor more information, contact:\r\n\r\nParish and Facilities Administrator\r\n\r\nAugustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park and Lutheran Campus Ministry\r\n\r\n5500 S. Woodlawn Avenue\r\n\r\nChicago, Illinois 60637\r\n\r\n773.493.6451\r\n\r\noffice@augustanahydepark.org\r\n