Yes.

In Montana, faith communities come in every size imaginable. Our rural congregations often face different issues related to energy usage, age of the building, and whether there has been building upgrades throughout the building’s life than our urban classified congregations. This often takes the form of having no insulation in the walls and roof, single-pane or loose window seals, and other issues that result in the loss of warm air in winter and water from rain and melting snow. Rural and older churches can benefit greatly from weatherizing their exterior walls, windows, air ducts, basements, and more. 

No.

Installing a solar array is one of many options on the table for congregations (and homes). Though solar can help reduce your dependance on external energy providers and reduce your monthly energy costs, it does not solve every issue. For instance, after calculating your faith community’s carbon footprint, you may find that most of your energy usage and costs are associated with heating your building during the deep winter months in Montana. This is a very common situation for rural and older faith communities. Faith communities in this situation may decide it is more effective to weatherize their building and electrify their heating system before going solar. Solar is very popular, but knowing where your energy is going will help identify if there are other priorities to address in order for solar to be more effective.

That’s great to hear you already have solar, but there are many other things you and your congregation can do! Solar is often thought of as the gold star of being environmentally conscious, but solar alone will not solve everything. From an energy reduction perspective, you may decide to electrify your heating system, install a heat pump, weatherize your building by insulating your walls, and more.