Environmental Stewardship

As Christians, we are all charged with the responsibility to care for our planet. New alternate energy technologies have an important role in helping the nation become energy independent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, as fossil fuel energy costs increase, reduce residential energy costs. Whether you design a new home or wish to improve the energy efficiency of your existing home, solar energy and other technologies are rapidly developing into cost effective sustainable energy resources. Among these technologies are solar collectors, solar hot water systems, heat storage vaults, ground source heat pumps, photovoltaic electricity and solar panels. On January 15, 2012 we learned firsthand from Michael Moats and Lois Salle about alternate energy technologies that can be used in your home now. Michael has built a home about one block from our church that uses these technologies. A link to their presentation is below. We are planning for a meeting at our church in March to talk more about ways to retrofit your existing home to make it more energy efficient. The Power of One is real. If we each do something, together we can make a real difference!

As you know, the Environmental Stewardship Work Area is conducting a recycling fundraiser. Thus far we have raised about $85. We are simply asking you to protect the environment by donating your used cell phones and small consumer electronics. Your used items(s) may be tax deductible and will be recycled in accordance with EPA regulations. 100% of the proceeds will help fund the First United Methodist Church's change over to more environmentally friendly and economical light fixtures and lighting.

We are currently collecting the following items: cell phones, laptop computers, digital cameras, digital video cameras, handheld game systems, MP3 players, GPS devices, and electronic book readers.

Note: Please do not include any accessories (rechargers, ear buds, etc.) with your donations.

Drop off any of the above items you would like to recycle at the Collection Bin on the table in the Church Office on the second floor.

A new Illinois law governing the disposal of electronic items became effective January 1, 2012. Details on this law can be found at: http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/electronic-waste-recycling/index.html and http://www.dupageco.org/recycling/

The Environmental Stewardship Work Area views this change in the law very favorably. It requires responsible disposal of items that are hazardous to the environment. As a church and as individuals, we must ensure that we comply with the law. Any person who violates the this new law can be fined $7000. The electronic items which are under the new disposal ban are: televisions, monitors, printers, computers (including tablet computers - Please put these in our Collection Bin in the Church Office! ), electronic keyboards, facsimile machines, video cassette recorders, portable digital music players (Please put these in our Collection Bin in the Church Office!), digital video disc players, video game consoles, small scale servers, scanners, electronic mice, digital converter boxes, cable receivers, satellite receivers, and digital video and disk recorders. These items must be taken to approved electronics recycling locations. (A link to a complete list of acceptable items is on the Going Green section of our church's website.)

Below are two electronics recycling locations with monthly drop off times. You do not need to be a Downers Grove or Westmont resident to be able to drop off items.
The Village of Downers Grove and Creative Recycling offer electronics recycling on the first Saturday of the month from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The drop-off location is at Village Hall, 801 Burlington Ave., in the employee parking lot at the rear of the building, off Curtiss St.
The Downers Grove Township Highway Department accepts electronics from 8:00 a.m. to Noon on the third Saturday of the month (except holiday weekends) at 318 E. Quincy, Westmont.

Items accepted include: Computers and peripherals including laptops (Please put these in our Collection Bin in the Church Office!), monitors, flat panels, keyboards, mice, cable, printers, external hard drives, tape drives, network and communication hardware, data center equipment including power distribution units and uninterrupted-power-supply systems, office and telecommunication equipment including copiers, fax machines, phone systems, cell phones (Please put these in our Collection Bin in the Church Office!), hand-held devices (Please put these in our Collection Bin in the Church Office!), TVs, calculators, beepers, videotapes, typewriters and projection, audio, video and security equipment.

Items not accepted are those with hazardous waste, radioactive waste, biohazardous waste or mercury containing devices . For example, light bulbs (fluorescent or Incandescent), car batteries, thermostats (mercury containing ones), and smoke alarms are not accepted.

Locations Where You Can Recycle Other Common Items
Household Batteries: The Downers Grove Park District accepts the following batteries at the Recreation Center, 4500 Belmont Rd.: alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel iron, nickel-metal hybrid, nickel cadmium and zinc air. Only AA, AAA, C and D and rechargeable batteries are accepted. No rechargeable power tool or automobile batteries are accepted.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFL’s): The following retailers accept CFL bulbs for recycling: (There is no fee for this service, however, broken bulbs cannot be accepted.)
Kin-ko Ace Hardware, 6216 Main St, Downers Grove, (630) 968-4355
Home Depot, 2000 Butterfield Rd., Downers Grove, (630) 792-9600
Home Depot, 2101 W. 75th St., Darien, (630) 271-9600
Home Depot, 7200 Woodward Ave., Woodridge (630) 795-1950
IKEA, 750 Boughton Rd., Bolingbrook, (630) 972-7900

On Sunday, October 9, some of us heard a presentation regarding electrical supply options that you can choose now. In fact, you can pick an electrical supplier that is less expensive and that uses more renewable energy sources than is currently in the mix for the supplier you most likely still have. If you switch electrical suppliers, you still will receive your bill from your current utility, but the place on the bill where you are charge for your energy, will be passed through to the supplier. After you change electrical supplier, you will notice nothing, except probably a less-expensive supply charge and a lower bill.

To evaluate your options, you can go to the website: http://www.pluginillinois.org.

We were encouraged to learn that Illinois is requiring all electricity suppliers to have an increasing, albeit still small, fraction of their supply to come from renewable sources. Currently, in Illinois, most of this is from wind turbines. However, beginning in 2016, utilities will be required to start having some of their electrical supply from solar energy. I recently selected a supplier that was more than 15% less expensive than my current electrical supplier and produces most of its energy from renewable wind energy. Also, important to me, was flexibility in my supplier. The electrical supplier that I selected does not have any guarantee period or contract period, so if I want to change my supplier, I can easily change. Selecting an electrical energy supplier with a large portion of its supply from renewable sources will help bring about cost-effective change for all and will help lessen our impact on the environment.