THE CLIMATE ACTION FUND of Adamah, the leading Jewish environmental organization, provides 50% matching grants (up to $20K) and 5-year interest-free loans (up to $250K) for projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In our case, such reductions could result from three possible efforts:
- Improving energy efficiency;
- Converting stoves/ovens and water heaters from gas to electric power; and/or
- Installing solar panels.
Below the jump, I explore the prospects for our participation in their program.…
Three channels for cooperation
Let me consider each of the three channels, in turn.…
Improving energy efficiency
We are considering two projects that would have significant energy impacts and have a suitably long lead time for planning to apply in the future. One is to replace the west windows of our school/office building, which is described HERE.
Looking farther down the road, we may be applying insulation to our school roof during Summer 2028. That’s when our roofer says that we will probably need to re-roof the school building, assuming that we keep doing the recommended annual maintenance in the meantime. (Maybe not until 2029, but that will be decided upon inspection in 2027.) Some roofers are able to spray foam insulation onto the current roof membrane, before applying the new one.
The question is how much insulation—if any—to install at that time. Obviously every added inch would cost more, but if we design it right, the extra cost will pay for itself within a few years, due to reduced utility bills.
Converting to electric stoves/ovens and water heaters
Our ovens/stoves are so old that I have not been able to find documentation of their safety. Without it—says our mechanical engineering consultant—when we proceed to upgrade the kitchen, the City will require us to replace the equipment. At that point, for both safety and environmental reasons, it would probably make sense to switch to electric-powered equipment.
As for our gas water heaters, both of them are fairly new. When it comes time to replace them, an electric model would be environmentally superior.
However, such a conversion would first involve an electrician to install wiring to supply electric power to the equipment.
Installing solar panels
Given that the roof our school building is flat, it would be a good site for an array of solar panels. As with applying insulation atop the roof (described above), this would be best done BEFORE a new coating is applied to the roof in 2028 or 2029.
Energy audit as a first step
Adamah offers a sophisticated energy audit program that can help us decide exactly what is feasible.
The audits are conducted by a partner company that serves faith-based non-profit organizations. Speaking as a former energy conservation engineer (44 years ago!), I can confidently say that this company knows what it’s doing—and that its analysis is more sophisticated than what the local utility company offers.
If 3–4 other SoCal organizations also sign up for an audit at about the same time, that would reduce our cost of bringing in this expert from Texas, because the overhead would be shared with them.
It’s possible to get reimbursement of the cost of such an energy audit afterward (up to 3 years later), if we request it as part of a new application for a larger eligible project.
After doing thousands of these audits around the USA, they have found that in many cases the audit pays for itself by identifying substantial no-cost or low-cost opportunities for saving energy. I don’t think that would be true in our case, but I do believe that they could provide invaluable guidance to ensure that we spend our money wisely.
Requirements for application
Adamah has application deadlines in mid-April and mid-October, with awards made about 6 weeks later. Projects are expected to be completed within 12 months.
Application for Adamah’s Climate Action Fund grants or loans is not a trivial process. Reportedly it would need to include at least the following:
- a projection of the resulting reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions, which requires first calculating the resulting energy savings.
- a projection of annual cost savings, which includes reduced maintenance costs, if any.
- Past two years of income statements and balance sheets, preferably audited.
- Mishkon’s approved budget for the current fiscal year.
- Mishkon’s P&L statement for the most recent quarter.
- Project budget, using their template.
- At least two proposals from vendors.
Going beyond capital efficiency
To be clear, Adamah’s approach favors environmental gains over the efficient use of capital. According to their FAQs,
We want to see efficiency projects that are doing the most emissions-reducing option available. E.g., if you are putting in insulation, we want to see you using product with the highest thermal value and installing as much as you can.
In other words, they would want us to put in more insulation than is likely to pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Similarly, they would want us to put in triple-pane windows that go beyond the current code requirements for our area. Doing that would make sense only if Adamah is subsidizing the additional expense (via a matching grant) beyond what is presently economical, or if Mishkon donors were to decide that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is worth paying extra for.
No comments:
Post a Comment