Tennessee Interfaith Power & Light
A Spiritual Response to Climate Change
TIPL guest column in Knoxville News Sentinel, June 27, 2015
Laudato Si (Praise for the Earth), Pope Francis’ encyclical for all people, calls out climate change as the overriding moral issue of our time. This profound contemplation elucidates the harm our economy, science, and technology have inflicted upon creation and then opens the way to healing. Read more at the ledger Website…
You are encouraged to read the encyclical for yourself. Follow this link.
By Holly Deese, Nashville Ledger (June 19, 2015)
It’s been a tough few years for Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light. The state affiliate of a national network of faith communities, the organization offers its members a spiritual way to respond to climate change issues and challenges from political and other sources.
TIPL submitted comments on TVA’s 2015 draft Integrated Resource Plan, a process that TVA goes through with stakeholders to consider its energy future. TIPL praised TVA for its stakeholder process and innovative modeling of energy efficiency as a resource. However, TVA distorted the results of how much it could rely upon energy efficiency by assigning energy efficiency a much higher cost than nationally experienced and by giving it a very timid growth rate.
Also, TIPL expressed its concern that TVA is moving forward with construction of so much natural gas capacity that the need for energy efficiency in its portfolio will be marginalized. By TVA’s reluctance to rely on energy efficiency, it does not protect its ratepayers from high power bills caused by the extreme temperatures of climate change or rising natural gas prices. Read more.
TIPL wants to join the ENERGY STAR 2015 National Building Competition, where teams from across the United States compete to see who can achieve the biggest energy and/or water use reductions. The deadline for application is May 31. You can read more at www.energystar.gov/battleofthebuildings
We need to form a team of faith groups and include at least 5 buildings. The buildings can be worship facilities, seminaries, schools, colleges, camps – whatever faith community buildings have energy saving potential.
Contact lgorenflo@gmail.com if your faith group wants to join the TIPL team!
Knoxville has been selected as one of 50 communities contesting for the Georgetown University Energy Prize, a national competition that challenges small- and medium-sized communities to develop and implement creative, sustainable, and replicable strategies to save energy. Through this competition, the City of Knoxville will work with utility and community leaders to reduce energy consumption in homes, schools and municipal buildings. The community that reduces energy consumption the most over a two-year period has a chance to win up to $5 million to fund local energy and sustainability programs.
TIPL is a Knoxville Scores partner. Reducing the energy consumption in Knoxville will reduce its carbon emissions and protect the climate.
For more information about the contest and Knoxville Scores, visit the Knoxville Scores website.
