First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee Goes Solar

Oct. 6, 2010 - PRLog -- On Saturday, October 9th, at 10:00 a.m. the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new solar array. The media, general public, and elected official are invited to attend. This is the major accomplishment of the congregation’s ambitious "Sustain Our Society" campaign.

The campaign has a multi-pronged focus on renewable energy production, conservation, and educational activities for the church congregation and the Milwaukee community.

The array of solar panels, installed on the flat roof of the congregation’s common room, will produce 11,700 kilowatts a year—about 10% of the congregation’s annual energy consumption. That’s the equivalent of preventing 20,500 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. The roof of the congregation’s historic 1892 sanctuary building was also insulated this summer to conserve energy and lower the growing congregation’s overall carbon-dioxide output.

Despite the difficult economy, First Unitarian Society’s Environmental Committee conducted a special fundraising campaign for the project in 2009. Church members and friends responded generously and quickly exceeded the campaign’s goal.

Judy Dubrosky of the Environmental Committee commented, “The project puts into action the 'Seventh Principle' of Unitarian Universalism [tenets]: ‘Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.’ Working together as a congregation and as a community, we can have a measurable, significant, and timely positive impact on our environment.”

While other Milwaukee-area congregations have installed solar panels, First Unitarian Society is one of the first downtown congregations to tackle this kind of project while working within the significant limitations imposed by its historic building designation.

Church member Tom Brandstetter has been intimately involved with the project. “Our carbon footprint has decreased over the years as we’ve replaced old fixtures such as boilers, but those kinds of changes have been invisible to the congregants and community. [Our goal was] to make the next set of changes more visible, so  we can show other churches and groups that we did it, and they can, too.”

The First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, a Unitarian Universalist congregation, was organized in 1842 and currently counts over 750 members. Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion, with a strong focus on social justice, environmental issues, and other pressing issues of today, that welcomes a wide range of spiritual seekers, from Christians and Buddhists to agnostics and atheists.

First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee is located on Milwaukee's East Side at 1342 N. Astor Street, at the corner of Astor & Ogden Streets.

For more information, visit http://www.uumilwaukee.org or call 414-273-5257.

Contact:
Rev. Dena McPhetres, Associate Minister
414-273-5257

Solar Panel Photos available at http://www.uumilwaukee.org/u/Solar_Pictures

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