CAT, Carbon Neutral, 9/24/25

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Date/Time/Location: Sept. 24, 2025 in the North Wing of BUUF at 3pm

Attending

John, Claudia, Cathy, Jim, Erin, Lisa H., Eileen, Tom

Agenda:

  • June meeting notes: 
  • Introduction to the new Green Sanctuary 2030 materials 
  • Discussion of how Green Sanctuary 2030 and BUUF’s Climate Action Team fit together
    • Concerns: the GS 2030 requires paper work  and while it is reduced in the latest iteration, it still exists
    • The paper work seems to be
      • A planning tool and 
      • the communication method with the UUA and other UU congregations. 
    • Uncertain if the paper work is worth the effort, we will continue to evaluate 
    • However, the framework of Mitigation, Community Resilience & Adaptation, Congregational transformation and Climate Justice is useful and we will continue with it
  • BUUF Climate Presentation to Green Sanctuary Community
    • Wednesday, November 19, 2025 7:00 PM –  8:30 PM ET (Please note the Time Zone!)
    • Description: The Boise UU Fellowship has committed to become Carbon Neutral by 2050 as part of their Green Sanctuary 2030 commitments. Engaging the entire congregation in a 2023 special appeal “Imagining A Carbon Neutral World,” BUUF launched their carbon neutral campaign which will focus on reducing the BUUF carbon footprint and supporting members to reduce their individual emissions while also building strong relations with community groups doing mitigation work.
  • BUUF Climate Youth Groups
    • Eileen wondering if there are BUUF youth who are concerned and interested in a Climate Youth Group
    • Need to talk to Travis to see who is interested 
  • Imagining  a Carbon Neutral World
    • 2023 special appeal (click here to see the appeal video)
    • 2023 – 2024 Goals (a check mark (✔) indicates the goal has been met)
      • ✔ Work with Green Sanctuary 2030 & Cool Congregations (AKA Interfaith Power and Light) 
      • ✔ Do a baseline carbon footprint assessment based on 2019
      • ✔ Have regular meetings of the Climate Action Team
      • ✔ Create a plan to reach or exceed a 45% reduction of the carbon footprint of our building and grounds
      • ✔ Explore long term projects that align with Green Sanctuary 2030
      • ✔ Switch to 100% clean electricity from Idaho Power
      •    Replacing inefficient window and doors
      • ✔ Upgrade HVAC system
      • ✔ Support climate education for congregation, partners and community
      •     Replace GHG emitting equipment with electric equivalents
    • Balance of funds from the appeal and the  Martin Wilke fund raiser- $13,163
  • Green Sanctuary Essentials
    • Mitigation
      • More trees for BUUF through the Business Tree Planting Program 
      • BUUF Footprint
        • 2019 – 32 MT/yr of CO2e
          • 23,280 kWh  at 74% clean energy
          • 434,500  cu ft of Natural Gas.    = 130,350 kWh
          • 153,630 Total kWh of energy
        • 2025 –   7 MT/yr of C02e
          • 82,426 kWh at 100% clean energy
          • 0 cu ft of Natural Gas
      • BUUF Energy Efficiency
        • Feb 14, 2025 Idaho Power energy audit showed inefficiencies in the new HVAC system that were corrected
        • Sep 7, 2025 – Bob Smith reported that our new HVAC System shows “overall a 36% reduction in energy use in the first 10 months of service” 
        • See BUUF Energy Efficiency Report  at the end of these notes
      • Household carbon footprint
        • Supporting a household carbon footprint plan
      • BUUF travel footprint
        • Investigate and experiment with ways of promoting carpooling
    • Community Resilience and Adaptation  and Climate Justice
      • Community Resilience in the Face of Heat
      • Supporting Solar for the community
      • Small modular nuclear reactors, may be a viable alternative to coal power plants – still have political issues for dealing with waste. However, 
    • Congregational Transformation
      • Annual Fall Connections Fair
        • Eileen with be at a table
  • Goal setting for program year
    • Political: Short term goals saving our democracy 
    • Carbon Neutral Fund usage
      • What’s the best usage of the funds
    • Evaluate options to improve energy efficiency
    • Continue to look at the results of the UU Climate Justice Revival
    • Continue the work of reducing BUUF’s footprint and partnering with community groups
  • Next meeting
    • Oct. 22 at 3pm, BUUF, in person
  • Actions
    • Energy Audit from Idaho Power, David will call. 

BUUF Energy Efficiency Report

By Bob Smith and Debbie Johnson

September 7, 2025

We did a basic comparison between overall energy usage for the 10 months that the new HVAC units have been operating and the prior ten months.  We took the previous period of natural gas use and converted it to kilowatt hours plus the electricity use to come up with a total kilowatt hours of energy consumption of 128,727 kWh.  We then added up the electricity use for the recent 10 months which is 82,426 kWh.  See attached spreadsheet. This is overall a 36% reduction in energy use.  

November 2023-August 2024 = 128,727 kWh

November 2024-August 2025 = 82,426 kWh

BUUF HVAC ENERGY USE COMPARISON GAS FURNACES CHANGED TO HEAT PUMPS
Natural Gas HVACHeat Pump HVACReduction yr/yr
Month & YearkWhThermsTotal kWh*Month & YearkWh
Nov 20232,577.1429511,220.64Nov 202410,843.903.36%
Dec 20232,961.0762021,127.07Dec 202415,075.5528.64%
Jan 20242,995.6795030,830.67Jan 202517,707.9742.56%
Feb 20242,485.0752817,955.47Feb 202513,034.5127.41%
Mar 20242,750.3250417,517.52Mar 20257,693.7956.08%
April 20243,146.3926610,940.19April 20255,161.9652.82%
May 20242,167.841205,683.84May 20252,933.1248.40%
June 20242,788.40383,901.80June 20252,829.4727.48%
July 20244,949.34105,242.34July 20253,469.5033.82%
Aug 20244,072.9584,307.35Aug 20253,675.7614.66%
10 mo total128,726.8982,425.5335.97%
* Therms x 29.3 = kWh