Creation Care’s explanation of Green Tips are things you as an individual, a church member, a citizen, and a family can do to help God’s Creation—our planet and its inhabitants—survive and thrive. As part of our mission as a church to care for God’s creation, we include tips for green living every other week in the Afterword. Our Green Tips so far have included: 1) Walk to Church; 2) Reduce Food Waste; 3) Conserve Water; 4) Reduce Junk Mail; 5) Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products; 6) Use Earth-Friendly Personal Habits; and 7) Use earth-friendly transportation practices.
This week’s tip might seem insurmountable to any of us. How do we reduce our home’s carbon footprint? We might vaguely know there are lots of ways but might not know where to begin. But there’s a lot of help right here in our community. The Winneshiek Energy District offers several options to help you reduce your home’s energy use (see energydistrict.org; call 563-382-4207; or email contact@energydistrict.org).
- One is the Bright Box initiative, which allows you to add up the number of light bulbs in your house that are inefficient—conventional incandescents and compact fluorescents—and request the same number of low-energy LED lightbulbs to replace them. Winneshiek Energy District can provide you with a box of those LEDs.
- You can also request an in-home energy assessment. Done under the auspices of Americorps Services, this includes a “full lighting upgrade to LEDs, combustion safety testing, and a blower door test to identify drafts in your home.” (Since this involves in-home assistance, you must be fully vaccinated against Covid.)
- If you wish to do even more for your home, you can schedule a Comprehensive Energy Assessment, for which there is a charge. Winn Energy District’s website explains: “Our full home energy assessment includes a combination of combustion appliance safety testing, insulation analysis, a blower door test to determine air leakage, and direct installation (replacing light bulbs and aerators with higher-efficiency models).” (Vaccination required.)
Please note that Congress’s recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will offer 30% tax credits for “qualifying and electricity upgrades,” beginning January 1, 2023 (see IRA Consumer Reduction Fact Sheets at energydistrict.org). These tax incentives may be applied to the above options.
