Important Project Update
January 17th, 2025
We are pleased to announce that at 2:19 PM on Friday, January 17th, the light turned green, which means St. Luke's is now officially making its own power! Special thanks to Full Spectrum Solar for helping us become more sustainable economically and environmentally!
And special thanks again to all of our anonymous donors, along with a very generous $8,000 grant from Faith in Place generously funded by Jeffrey Jens and Ann Boisclair. Without this support, we could have never accomplished this project!
January 10th, 2025
All of our electrical work as been completed and tested by Full Spectrum Solar. We actually started producing our own power on January 9th for the first test run by the electricians and everything went well! The panel installers will be coming back now to critter guard the panels and trim the mounting brackets to protect the wiring underneath.
We are scheduled to have a city inspector come out this week. After that, WE Energies will come out to test the system before switching over to the new system permanently. This should all be concluded in the next few weeks.
January 3rd, 2025
First, the switch over to our new electric meter went swimmingly on December 30th thanks to the collaboration between Full Spectrum Solar and WE Energies!
Most of the installation of hardware (panels and electrical work) is now complete. There are a few minor projects left, and then we will be ready for a final city inspection. After that, WE Energies will test the system and then we will go live with our primary source of power coming from the sun! This should happen all within the next couple of weeks.
We are pleased to announce that at 2:19 PM on Friday, January 17th, the light turned green, which means St. Luke's is now officially making its own power! Special thanks to Full Spectrum Solar for helping us become more sustainable economically and environmentally!
And special thanks again to all of our anonymous donors, along with a very generous $8,000 grant from Faith in Place generously funded by Jeffrey Jens and Ann Boisclair. Without this support, we could have never accomplished this project!
January 10th, 2025
All of our electrical work as been completed and tested by Full Spectrum Solar. We actually started producing our own power on January 9th for the first test run by the electricians and everything went well! The panel installers will be coming back now to critter guard the panels and trim the mounting brackets to protect the wiring underneath.
We are scheduled to have a city inspector come out this week. After that, WE Energies will come out to test the system before switching over to the new system permanently. This should all be concluded in the next few weeks.
January 3rd, 2025
First, the switch over to our new electric meter went swimmingly on December 30th thanks to the collaboration between Full Spectrum Solar and WE Energies!
Most of the installation of hardware (panels and electrical work) is now complete. There are a few minor projects left, and then we will be ready for a final city inspection. After that, WE Energies will test the system and then we will go live with our primary source of power coming from the sun! This should happen all within the next couple of weeks.
Creation Care
A "Commission of Creation Care" was created at the 2021 Diocesan Convention, the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. Its purpose is to engage Wisconsin Episcopal parishes in to live sustainably as God commissioned us. Its statement of beliefs says: Earth and all life are God’s great gift. We have not been good stewards. Time is short. We must do our part in restoring God’s gift in a way that does not result in injustice to the vulnerable. We believe in the interdependent web of God’s creation.
As responsible stewards, St. Luke’s congregation and Vestry has approved the following projected to incorporate the Creation Care mission:
Funding
Thanks to the generosity of several donations by parish members, St. Luke's members voted overwhelmingly to proceed with the transition to solar power this past June, 2024. After approval, we were able to apply for other sources of funding and were blessed to receive a very generous $8,000 grant from Faith in Place generously funded by Jeffrey Jens and Ann Boisclair. This generous grant significantly reduced the total cost to parish savings to under $5,000.00 to complete the project!
There was still due diligence to complete with the help of our Energy Provider and Solar Provider, but we are proud to say that work began on December 9th, 2024, and should be completed by January 2025! Stay tuned for more updates and information!
In addition, St. Luke's Creation Care mission states that as a community of we welcome ALL people - NO exceptions! We have a simple hashtag at St. Luke’s: #lovegrowshere
We welcome you to visit the Community Engagement page to learn about our Giving Garden, Butterfly Garden and Little Free Library projects all managed by parishioner volunteers as examples of our commitment to our community and God's creations.
As responsible stewards, St. Luke’s congregation and Vestry has approved the following projected to incorporate the Creation Care mission:
- Solar energy: to reduce our consumption of nonrenewable energy by installing solar panels on the church.
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle: Cut down on what we use and throw away.
- Compost: Composting waste and use in our Giving Garden
- Changed to energy-efficient light bulbs: older ineffective light bulbs have been changed to LED bulbs as the most energy efficient lighting option available
- Windows in Rectory: Several windows have been replaced to reduce drafts and maintain stable temperatures and reduce overall carbon footprint.
Funding
Thanks to the generosity of several donations by parish members, St. Luke's members voted overwhelmingly to proceed with the transition to solar power this past June, 2024. After approval, we were able to apply for other sources of funding and were blessed to receive a very generous $8,000 grant from Faith in Place generously funded by Jeffrey Jens and Ann Boisclair. This generous grant significantly reduced the total cost to parish savings to under $5,000.00 to complete the project!
There was still due diligence to complete with the help of our Energy Provider and Solar Provider, but we are proud to say that work began on December 9th, 2024, and should be completed by January 2025! Stay tuned for more updates and information!
In addition, St. Luke's Creation Care mission states that as a community of we welcome ALL people - NO exceptions! We have a simple hashtag at St. Luke’s: #lovegrowshere
We welcome you to visit the Community Engagement page to learn about our Giving Garden, Butterfly Garden and Little Free Library projects all managed by parishioner volunteers as examples of our commitment to our community and God's creations.