“Building” Community: A Conversation with Rev. Tom Warren of Peace United Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC.

Molly Johnson (MJ) spoke with Rev. Tom Warren (RTW) about the solar panel initiative at his congregation, Peace United Church of Christ which is growing faithful resilience through climate mitigation, creational awareness and community connection. ​

MJ: Tell us about your climate resilience project? 
RTW: Our solar panel system was completed on March 13, 2024. We are excited!  The running system has drawn our attention further to the climate situation and the whole congregation is more engaged in the issue now. It has raised all of our consciousness! In the month since it's been installed, we’ve already seen cost savings. Our monthly bill prior to installation was around $1,100 and with the solar it was $386. So we already saved $700 in the last month, allowing us to support other ministries we care about. 

MJ: Tell us about your congregation or community?
RTW: Our congregation has around 75 active members. We are small but mighty. We are also connected to many community organizations who use our large church building every day. The New Arrivals Institute, is one organization with a large and vibrant program for immigrants and refugees in Guilford County. The organization teaches skills such as job interviewing, English and citizenship lessons.​
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MJ: What inspired your action? 
RTW: Our inspiration was a combination of environmental concerns and cost savings. Jane, a dedicated congregation member, identified two rebate programs that made the project feasible. The congregation was happy that we could reduce CO2 emissions and act on our concerns for Creation. At the same time, the cost savings were an important incentive, so that we could invest further in other ministries, including the community groups that use our building.  Two years ago at our annual meeting we voted unanimously to explore the idea. We set up a solar panel committee and did a site visit to one of our sister churches who already installed solar panels through the 8M solar company in Raleigh, NC. We then met with 8M representatives for more details and started our financial campaign. We paid for the $93,000 system of 95 solar panels through a Cornerstone loan from the United Church of Christ. We then got a rebate from Duke power for $32,400, covering ⅓ of the loan. We have applied for a federal rebate that we hope will be granted to us soon and estimate it to be somewhere around $30,000, another ⅓ of the loan. We also raised an amazing $31,000 from our church members. Alot of them were motivated by the tremendous savings that we would see. 

MJ: How does this project inspire “faithful resilience?” 
RTW: The installed system keeps us doing something about climate change every day, as well as staying informed about CO2 emissions. We have a phone app that everyone in the congregation can use to see exactly how much energy your solar panels are producing, as well as how much CO2 you have saved since installing the system.  We’ve saved 24,143 lbs of CO2 emissions since our system has been operating. Since our church building is on the main drag into Downtown, we believe that the visibility of the solar panels are a witness to our faith and the call to protect God’s creation. We hope that other people see this and are inspired. As we continue to raise money, we are having conversations on potentially replacing our entire boiler system with a solar-generated electric system. It’s creating a new imagination for people to think “wow, what else can we do?” One of our goals was to fill our church building up with community organizations to use our rooms and resources. Our partnership with the New Arrival’s Institute has been really exciting because they gave three very 

significant gifts to our solar panel project, understanding how the project interconnects with their work of serving immigrants and refugees. 
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MJ: What would you tell someone interested in completing a similar project?
RTW: We would talk highly of the whole process. We had a good experience with 8M solar, who even met with us on Sunday afternoons to accommodate us. Anyone looking into solar power should also research the rebates. The Duke power and (hopeful) federal rebates are what made this possible for us. Without those rebates, we could not have done this. Additionally, the UCC has a loan officer staff member and the funds available to support this exact kind of solar project. They are really committed to this. ​​​