The Rev. Melanie Mullen (third from left), director of reconciliation, justice and creation in the Office of the Presiding Bishop, was among a group of faith leaders who attended a meeting with the White House Council on Environmental Quality in the the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House. Photo: Melanie Mullen
[Episcopal News Service] Three Episcopalians were among the faith leaders who participated in a meeting this week with the White House Council on Environmental Quality to discuss how communities of faith can benefit from federal climate change initiatives and special funding through a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Representatives of two Episcopal churches that applied for the act’s Direct Pay funds were among those at the Aug. 13 meeting – Maggie Chappen, senior warden at St. Andrew’s, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; and the Rev. Elizabeth Marie Melchionna, rector of The Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Direct Pay provision allows tax-exempt entities like churches to qualify for a payment equal to the full value of tax credits for implementing clean energy projects, such as generating clean electricity through solar, wind and battery storage projects.
The Rev. Melanie Mullen, director of reconciliation, justice and creation in the Office of the Presiding Bishop, also attended the meeting held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House.
Melchionna and Chappen represented congregations at the meeting, while others were from community non-profits or community centers that operated out of churches. Having two Episcopal parishes selected to highlight how individual churches can make a difference “was so affirming,” Mullen told Episcopal News Service.
Maggie Chappen, senior warden at St. Andrew’s, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, addresses the meeting of faith leaders and the White House Council on Environmental Quality Aug. 13. Photo: Melanie Mullen
When Chappen addressed the group, Mullen said, she was clear about why her church was working to fight climate change. “She told people that in The Episcopal Church we do this work because of our baptismal vows and because we want to live liberatingly and lovingly with the Earth.”
Chappen’s small Pennsylvania church installed solar panels last summer, and she told ENS on Aug. 16 that while it was the right thing to do, it has been a struggle to complete the electronic tax forms required to get the Direct Pay funding.
She told ENS she shared those concerns at the meeting, and she encouraged churches to find a helpful partner like one of two nonprofits that help with solar installations – RE-volv or GroundSwell – to assist with the paperwork. “I don’t want administrative hurdles to be a deterrent for churches” she said.
Ronnie Newman, the Department of the Treasury’s senior advisor for implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, was one of the people at the meeting, and he told Chappen that he wants to see the Internal Revenue Service offer more help to small churches like hers in complying with the act’s requirements.
Learning about battery storage from others at the meeting has inspired Chappen to explore that option, too, for St. Andrew’s. The church saves money on electricity bills during daylight hours but pays commercial rates to heat or cool the building at night, she said. Batteries that can store up to three days of power not only could cut that cost but also would make the church better able to help during local power outages. It could be a place where people could get cool or warm, charge their phones and maybe even store refrigerated items to keep them from spoiling.
The Chapel of the Cross’ new solar panels were made possible by a variety of funding sources, Melchionna told ENS, including the Direct Pay funds for nonprofits, a grant from the Diocese of North Carolina, a rebate from the local energy company and Department of Energy grants.
A 2004 energy audit the parish undertook showed the benefit of solar, but because the church is in the city’s historic district, solar panels had to be invisible from the ground. Now that technology allows solar panels to be mounted on flat roofs, they were able to be installed on the church and have begun providing about 13% of the church’s energy needs.
Melchionna said that churches engaged in climate action need to find ways to amplify their work and support other places of worship and nonprofits as they take steps toward cleaner energy. She referenced a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study that showed when churches or other non-residential buildings install solar panels on their roof, it increases solar adoption by local residents.
Adding solar panels to The Chapel of the Cross, she said, “is how we’re putting our faith into action.”
Chappen knows that people sometimes can feel helpless in the face of climate change, but that’s exactly when faith groups are most needed. “You have to maintain hope, and you have to sometimes take leaps of faith to get where you need to go,” she said.
People like Chappen and Melchionna and the churches they serve, Mullen said, point to how other Episcopal churches can get involved. “I want the entire church to know that what your Episcopal church can do, matters,” she said.
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.