Wondering what you can do to make your existing church building more environmentally friendly? Here are 25 ideas you can use today.

Access and Gathering

• Create and maintain pedestrian access to your facility. Can people walk to church, or take the bus to a nearby location and walk the rest of the way?
  
• Provide a bike rack and have a shower if your facility for bike commuters.
  
• Promote neighborhood carpooling to reduce emissions and use of fuel. It also gives people the chance to connect on the way to church and discuss the message on the way home—a built in mini-small group.
  
• Size parking lots for typical weekend use and share lots with neighboring businesses for big events.

• Use more natural landscaping to reduce the need for lawn irrigation, or collect and keep rainwater.
  
• Retrofit plumbing fixtures with flow-control fixtures to reduce water consumption.
  
• Install compact fluorescent or LED lamps in lighting fixtures. This typically represents one of the fastest energy cost life-cycle payoffs: 12 to 18 months to earn back the cost of the bulbs and energy savings thereafter.
  
• Use task lighting in lieu of overhead lighting to allow single users to illuminate only their workstation instead of the entire area.

• When replacing appliances and equipment, purchase those with the "Energy Star" rating.
  
• Work with your current utility company to purchase energy from renewable sources.
  
• Conduct an energy audit on your facility to determine potential cost-saving projects and life-cycle paybacks for each idea.
  
• Utilize thermostat setbacks whenever possible to conserve energy.

• Designate smoking areas outside, away from fresh air intakes; or better yet, become a no-smoking campus.
  
• Use paints and cleaning products that have low VOC (volatile organic compounds) or are labeled "Green Seal."
  
• Clean entry vestibule mats regularly to prevent off-gassing of road salts, dirt, oil, and gas.
  
• Replace air-handling and ventilation equipment filters at least as often as manufacturers recommend.

• Promote a culture of recycling in your facility and extend that to your neighborhood—create sorting hubs and deliveries to recycling centers.
  
• Recommission mechanical systems to ensure they are operating at most efficient levels.
  
• Use china or bio-degradable dinnerware and utensils. Ask guests to bring their own mugs.
  
• Buy "fair trade," "shade-grown," and "bird-friendly" coffee that pays workers a living wage and does not clear cut rain forest habitats.
  
• Reduce paper use by creating a culture of online announcements, newsletters, and discussion boards. Many churches are taking advantage of the social media aspects of Web 2.0.

• Host a community garden on your site.
  
• Take children and youth on more outdoor adventures and teach on Creation Care.
  
• Adopt a local stream, park, or roadway and use this as a regular service project.
  
• Lead an annual "Creation Care" Sunday to raise awareness of biblical earth stewardship and practical tools for caring for Creation.

This list is also downloadable as a poster.