Many faith-based organizations want to take action to help steward our environment, starting with their own buildings, but often don’t know how to begin.

This webinar introduces  The  Sustainability Education and Energy Knowledge-sharing (SEEK) Project, an action research project of the Spirituality and Sustainability Initiative at ASU, and demonstrate the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® for Congregations program. SEEK provides a framework and tools to help congregations accelerate their energy transitions using a  novel model for leveraging existing assets and in-kind resources from multi-sectoral partners (universities, congregations, commercial energy professionals, federal programs and local leaders). SEEK provides tailored mentoring and technical assistance in various online and face-to-face formats that facilitate learning and action while building a peer-mentored community.

The EPA’s ENERGY STAR® for Congregations program—tools, training and technical support— is free and online to support energy and water stewardship in worship facilities. Like most commercial buildings, houses of worship can typically achieve 25-30 percent reductions in energy use—dollar savings that can be re-purposed to the mission and ministry of the congregation. Tools include the ENERGY STAR Action Workbook for Congregations and the Portfolio Manager® tool supported by a robust training center featuring live and recorded webinars, downloadable slides and fact sheets, FAQs, brief “how to” videos and a link to ENERGY STAR’s popular Help Desk.