The Church Bus

Several posts ago I wrote about the obvious environmental impact of driving to church and suggested walking if at all possible, both as a spiritual discipline and a practice of environmental stewardship. Now I'd like to explore the issue of churches using vans or buses.

Oddly enough, it seems that I have often been at a church during a time when it was considering the purchase of a van/bus. Usually churches choose to acquire these vehicles so that different groups (youth, choir, etc.) can take trips. Some churches use buses to pick up members of the congregation that can/should no longer drive and bring them to services. Obviously both of these purposes are unimpeachable. I suppose the only question is whether or not the use of a van/bus actually pollutes less than using carpooling to achieve the same goals.

The virtue of a van/bus is that it holds more people than a car. So even though most of these vehicles get lousy gas mileage, they can conceivably do the work it would take twenty cars to do. It's obviously hard to compare emissions without knowing the condition of the cars, but generally speaking, the more cars taken off the road, the better.

I suppose the "X" factor might be the size and type of van/bus. Are we talking about a fifteen passenger van (which lately have been less popular due to safety concerns) or a much larger bus? The larger the bus, the more cars are off the road. However, most larger buses also run on diesel which, from the resources I have found, pollutes worse than regular gasoline (I welcome any information to the contrary; I simply could not find much comparison).

So, here are a few suggestions (mostly common sense) about vans/buses.

1. If one must be purchased, get one with very strict emission standards.
2. Keep it well maintained.
3. Regular gas seems better than diesel (I think).
4. Make sure the van/bus is always close to full of people - it's pretty wasteful if it's only for two or three people. Carpooling can be arranged for a small number of people.

Does your church have a van/bus? If so, do you think it's adequately used and kept green? How bout sharing between churches?

The (Natural) Light of the World

This past weekend I went to an awesome wedding in Houston (yay Seann and Elizabeth!). While I was there I saw several churches. One took my breath away. It had just been remodeled, and the windows were unbelievable. I don't even know what you'd call this type of design, but there were pieces of brightly colored glass in different shapes and sizes. They were usually arranged in images, but sometimes they were just collage-like. The glass pieces were put into a dark sand looking concrete. The contrast between the bright pieces and the dark setting was gorgeous. I was admittedly a little jealous because one of these windows probably cost more than the yearly budget of my three churches combined. But that's Texas!

Then it occurred to me how little natural light actually comes into that sanctuary. Of course, that's likely part of the plan considering they have HD screens which look best with minimal light. But it really reminded me how much I enjoy churches that barely need lights on Sunday morning. So I think churches that are considering a face-lift should definitely scrap the stained or colored glass in favor of natural light.

Obviously a church would want to capture the maximum light without overheating the sanctuary and maxing out the air conditioner. But using clear glass in strategic places would offer much more light while using much less energy. And if you've got a great seat, maybe you get to look at creation while you worship the Creator of it all.