The community hall at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Silver Spring was completed in 1965 and was last renovated in 1977. In order to sustain the community hall, the Congregation will use a Small Business Energy Savings Support (“SBESS”) interest-only bridge loan to make significant energy efficiency improvements and the installation of a 25 kW solar array. This project presents an opportunity for substantially improving the community hall’s energy efficiency, resulting in the mitigation of 344 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually and 60% reduction in energy use.

The Green Bank/City First Enterprises bridge loan will be paired with a C-PACE loan from a private capital source for a total financing support of $1.4 million.

The SBESS Program developed by Montgomery County Green Bank and City First Enterprises allowed the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Silver Spring to access lower cost, flexible short-term capital instead of utilizing reserves. The Congregation will repay the SBESS loan through a capital campaign.

The Montgomery County Green Bank has been working closely with Interfaith Power & Light on helping faith communities go solar. See ipldmv.org/solar for more resources from Interfaith Power & Light, including a map of existing faith communities with solar and a recording of an info session on solar for faith communities.