It’s almost sinful how much heat a church can leak, even on Easter.

There’s that high ceiling in the sanctuary, for one thing. Or maybe parishioners forget to lower the thermostat after raising the roof on Sunday mornings. Perhaps there’s a poorly sealed steeple at fault.

No matter the cause, local church buildings and synagogues are sometimes woefully unprepared to make good use of energy resources. But that’s changing.

About 50 congregations around the state, including more than a dozen in Greater New Haven, have taken part in a program called This Old House of Worship. For a fee, the 2-year-old program evaluates a religious building’s energy efficiency and makes recommendations for improvements. Typically, congregations see an energy savings of 5-20 percent.

“People of faith seem to be very environmentally aware, but church buildings have some unique problems,” says Carol Wilson of Cheshire, whose company, Wilson Educational Services, conducts the program.

“They have intermittent use, they often have very high ceilings without ceiling fans, and they’re in leaky, older buildings,” Wilson explains. “Also, religious organizations usually work with very tight budgets. They don’t have an admission price they can raise.”

So they raise awareness instead, Wilson and others say. They start with the connection between faith and energy conservation.

“We’re doing what we can to be good stewards of God’s creation,” says the Rev. Stephen Volpe, pastor at Cheshire United Methodist Church. “This church is very much aware of issues in the world and the community. A number of families here take it upon themselves to conserve and preserve the environment.”

Cheshire United Methodist also happens to be Wilson’s church. She encouraged her fellow parishioners to take part in This Old House of Worship two years ago.

“We’ve changed all of the old lighting fixtures to become more energy efficient, and we’re constantly looking for ways to conserve energy,” Volpe says. “We’re also looking at the big blue monster in the basement, which is this huge burner we have. Our church is actively seeking alternatives. Quite possibly, we’ll replace it with two smaller, more efficient burners.”

Other local organizations that have completed, or are currently participating in, This Old House of Worship training include North Madison Congregational Church, Temple Beth Tikvah and Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Society in Madison; North Haven United Church of Christ; Spring Glen United Church of Christ and Temple Beth Shalom in Hamden; Grace Lutheran Church and Temple Beth Shalom in Stratford; New Haven Friends Meeting and New Haven Unitarian Universalist Society; First Congregational Church of Cheshire and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cheshire; First United Methodist Church in Wallingford; and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Christ Episcopal Church, First Congregational Church and North Guilford Congregational Church in Guilford.

In addition, more than 85 places of worship have participated in energy efficiency projects offered by United Illuminating. A UI review of those projects for the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network indicates that they have saved approximately 2.7 million kilowatt hours. This roughly equates to the saving of 628 acres of trees, according to UI.

“Rapacious consumption of energy is not a blessing,” says Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, an advocacy group based in Hartford. One of the group’s projects is Connecticut Interfaith Power and Light, which works with Wilson to organize This Old House of Worship sessions around the state and find grant money for the programs where possible.

“One place, we saved them hundreds of dollars a month by putting a piece of Styrofoam in their steeple,” Cohen-Kiener notes. “It cost them about $4.”

Indeed, part of This Old House of Worship involves the use of infrared equipment to find spots where energy escapes the building.

“Yes, we’ve found hot steeples,” Wilson says. “All that does is keep the bats warm. We also find church doors that are sending heat out of the building rather than keeping heat in.”

The program runs in five, three-hour sessions that can be attended by representatives of multiple congregations. It costs $3,000, which is split among the congregations and sometimes offset by grant money.

Wilson points to several energy-wasting areas that are common to many religious buildings:

- a lack of ceiling fans

- older, less-efficient appliances that are donated to the church

- furniture or other items blocking radiators

- poor insulation

“We had one church that organized a work day and insulated the ceiling of their building,” Wilson recalls. “Now they’re planning to build storm windows.”

Jonathan Gorham of Woodbridge, chairman of the environmental footprint committee for the New Haven Friends Meeting, completed This Old House of Worship training in 2006.

“One of the tenets of the Quaker religion is that we try to walk softly on the planet,” Gorham explains.

Although the local Friends’ meetinghouse is only a dozen years old, there were several recommendations that have saved hundreds of dollars in energy costs, according to Gorham. The group lowered the temperature setting on its water heater, replaced a door, put in some new windows and door sweeps and began using ceiling fans in the winter to hold warm air inside the building.

“We now have a very educated group of friends,” Gorham says. “Carol has motivated us all to conserve in the meetinghouse, conserve in our homes and become advocates for energy efficiency.”

Other religious congregations have taken the information from This Old House of Worship and developed Earth Day programs or hosted energy-saving competitions among parishioners.

Such spin-offs are natural for members of faith communities, Wilson contends.

“People who have a faith basis for their life tend to think beyond themselves,” she says. “They know we share the planet with other human beings and our behavior affects the planet.”

Jim Shelton can be reached at (203) 789-5664 or jshelton@nhregister.com.