St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

In 2015, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church installed 30 Sun Power modules with a capacity of 9.81 kilowatts on the roof of Mentzer House, the flat-topped education and office building adjacent to the church. The cost of the installation was paid by the 2014 capital campaign. This installation helped the church reduce its carbon footprint and electrical bill as it sought to be part of the solution to the climate crisis caused by the excessive burning of fossil fuels. As we care for God’s creation, we seek to encourage others to join us by installing solar panels. In addition, in partnership with the King County Rainwise program, St. Andrew’s installed three rain gardens, three 205-gallon cisterns, and two 530-gallon cisterns to capture runoff from the church roof. Potentially toxic stormwater now stays on the property where it sinks into the ground rather than overwhelming nearby storm drains. The native plants in the rain gardens provide habitat for birds and pollinators and water from the cisterns irrigates the church’s landscape. Dirt Corps, a community partnership program that provides on-the-job training for people from underserved communities, installed the rain gardens and cisterns.