Treading lightly in 2010 - news from around the country
Renewing Creation - news from Newcastle and Northumbria
Shrinking the Footprint
Last September's issue of Renewing Creation introduced the Church of England's Shrinking the Footprint web-site. Future issues will highlight different extracts from the web-site, in the hope of raising awareness and encouraging further investigation. This month we introduce the first step in the ‘Shrinking the Footprint Path.'
Measuring our Footprint
Church organisations at every level have been invited to register their energy use as a baseline for measuring the Church's carbon footprint. This was followed by a simple environmental audit to help churches plan how to reduce their emissions. This exercise is an essential first step on the path to ‘The 20% Church.' Unless we know where we are starting from we cannot plan how best to reduce our impact on the environment or monitor how much difference our actions are making.
How can I take part?
Each diocese has a Measuring our Footprint Contact (usually the Diocesan Environment Officer) who will contact parishes and record the results of the questionnaires. You can also obtain copies of the questionnaire and mini-audit from the Shrinking the Footprint web-site.
Who should join in?
We hope that all cathedrals and churches will join in by responding to their local Measuring our Footprint Contact. Diocesan offices and Bishops' Palaces will also be invited to take part. However, we encourage any organisation or individual to join in locally.
What is the Audit?
The Audit comprises:
- A questionnaire to record energy units used in a 12 month period, and other basic information. The results should be sent to your local Measuring our Footprint Contact.
- A mini-audit - a simple environmental audit for you to carry out. This will help you learn more about the energy you use and to identify how to begin to cut your carbon footprint.
What next?
If you have taken the first step, you might like to carry out a more detailed review of your activities. Audits for different aspects of church life and other resources may be obtained from the www.ecocongregation.org/englandandwales. You can also calculate your own carbon footprint at actonco2.direct.gov.uk. Or why not have a home energy check from the Energy Saving Trust?
Then move on to the next step on the Shrinking the Footprint Path
Introducing ‘Heat 4' as a potential solution to church heating problems
Churches buildings often contain a number of different rooms, with the amount of warmth required in each room dependent on the way it is used. Most churches have an ‘all or nothing' heating system, that doesn't allow different parts of the building to be heated separately. ‘Heat 4' was designed to solve this problem.
Sensors are placed in up to sixteen separate zones, to measure the temperature to within 0.1oC. Each sensor is linked to a control box and a computer, which monitors the temperature and opens a valve as necessary to allow more heat into the zone. A routine diary maintains a record of the events that happen regularly within each zone, and an ad hoc diary allows special events, such as weddings and parties, to be entered up to a year ahead. The times of occupation are the only information required, since ‘Heat 4' switches the heating on in advance as necessary, taking account of outside temperatures, so that the zone is at the right temperature when people arrive.
Sometimes the only person who can operate a church heating system lives some distance away. Although ‘Heat 4' can be operated using a computer in the church, in most situations it is operated via the internet from the authorised person's own computer. This avoids someone having to come to the church to set things up for an ad hoc event, and it solves the problem of someone forgetting to switch the heating off at the end.
The ‘Heat 4' computer displays what is happening in real time and provides a log of what has happened in the past. An energy-saving log calculates the amount of energy being saved, taking into account the type of fuel being used. ‘Heat 4' will control gas, oil or electric heating.
The churches that will benefit are those that have a single heating system for more than one room. In a church where the boiler is too small to heat the whole building, ‘Heat 4' would enable the boiler to be used more effectively, by only heating the rooms that are in use.
For more information visit ttp://www.heat4.com/
Help with community energy projects
The Energy Saving Trust Green Communities service is looking for community groups across the country to host their own Green Communities course, at no charge. A bespoke course will enable the development of a community energy project and also improve your knowledge of energy issues. To enquire further about Green Communities Partnership training courses, phone (0844) 8480077, email greencommunities@est.org.uk or visit www.est.org.uk/community.
Grants for bio-energy boilers
Community organisations that are considering investing in biomass-fuelled heat and/or combined heat and power projects can apply for grants from Round 6 of the Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme. Grants can be obtained for up to 40% of the cost difference between a biomass boiler and its fossil fuel alternative. See http://www.bioenergycapitalgrants.org.uk/.
From the Whitehaven News, 21st October 2009
St John's Church at Bigrigg is the first church in Cumbria to use a pioneering technology that pumps water from 100 metres down to provide heat for its congregation. The green solution has brought an end to the church's chronic heating problems. Ever since the church was built in 1870, many ways have been tried to keep the church warm, none of them very successful. The PCC invited tenders from several companies and selected a subsidiary of Dimplex, a German company that employs local craftsmen. Ground source technology involves pumping water from 100 metres deep at a temperature of 20oC and, by means of a heat exchanger, increasing the temperature to 30oC. The system costs the equivalent of a 60W light bulb to run. The installation costs of around £50,000 were met from a 50% grant from the Low Carbon Trust and by selling off an old church hall.
Contacts Rob Kelsey, Diocesan Environment Officer, Robert@josephkelsey.fsnet.co.uk
(21/01/2010)
