Green Committee

You might be wondering about how green is our Temple facility, and could it be “greener”?

As we know, reducing “greenhouse emissions” has the added benefit of reducing energy costs. Those of you who are participating in our “Let There Be (More Efficient) Light” project may be seeing this already in your electric bills. One of our committee’s charges is to help find ways to reduce our facility’s energy costs as well as reducing our dependence on emission-generating resources. Thanks to a study by committee member David Holland-Moritz, we have been able to track the Temple facility’s use of electricity over several years. It should come as no surprise that we use the most energy during High Holidays, due to the need for air conditioning and additional lighting for both the Social Hall and the Sanctuary. While we would not take the radical step of recommending that we save on energy and energy costs by canceling High Holy Day services, there are other ways that the Temple facility can reduce our energy consumption.

Committee member David Blacher has met with Robert Brown, our facilities manager. Robert has already been at work, reducing bulb wattage, replacing incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent bulbs where possible, and working with Committee members to develop a plan to install dimmers that work with the CF bulbs. We will be looking into our air-conditioning system to see whether it is as energy efficient and cost-effective as it should be.

We are also looking into our irrigation system to see if we can save water, and we are also monitoring our use of paper with the aim of reducing our use of printed materials.

We hope that our Temple facility will be able to serve as a model for each of us individually as we look into ways to make our everyday lives more resource-efficient.

Remember, being “green” is a Mitzvah!

Allen Gross

Green Committee Chair