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Making Room to Grow and Worship
Commitment to Good Resource Stewardship
The
new organ and the accompanying design plan for the Sanctuary offer us both the
opportunity to re-imagine how we worship and the opportunity to be good stewards
of the resources in our care. In looking toward the future, we can provide
the congregations that come after us with a warm, flexible, inspirational place
to worship that is also energy-efficient, healthy, and built with materials that
took a minimum toll on the Earth’s finite resources.
With this vision of the
future in mind, the Rejoice and Renew! support
committees, as well as the architects, planners, and construction contractors,
will strive to achieve the following resource stewardship objectives:
Reduce Energy
Costs:
Technology is continually advancing in the realm of heating and cooling. In
cooperation with the Property Care Committee, we will build on and refine the
existing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) to achieve
greater operating cost efficiencies over the life of our building.
Improve Indoor Air Quality:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside our buildings
can be more seriously polluted than outdoor air even in the biggest cities.
Children, the elderly, and those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular
disease are among the groups most susceptible to indoor air pollutants. By
taking steps to improve air quality through ventilation and the use of materials
that emit low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) wherever possible, we
will strive to create a healthier place to worship.
Reuse, Recycle, and Conserve:
With God’s providence,
the Earth offers us a number of resources, some finite and some sustainable or
rapidly renewable. We will seek to maximize the reuse of the existing
building’s walls, floors, and roof; recycle as much as half the waste generated
by construction; and incorporate the use of materials from renewable and
sustainable sources whenever possible.
Steering Committee
March 2, 2006 |
