Revd Mike Firbank writes… At Camborne Parish Church we are trying to change behaviour/attitudes and change the way we heat/light etc our church buildings.
Immediate Solutions…
- Old thermostats in our halls and church were replaced & turned down.
- Oil sheets were put behind radiators so that instead of heating external walls we reflected the heat back into the room.
- Draughty doors have been covered with thick door curtains without a faculty – how? Retractable curtain poles expanded to fill the space and were not fixed in any way to the fabric of the church - lateral thinking!
- We are fully insulating the loft spaces of our halls.
- Self-closers have been installed on doors so they don’t stay open letting all the heat out!
More Difficult- grant dependent measures …
- Solar Panels - The latest solar panels can provide substantial amounts of electricity which one could use or sell back to the grid. Later this year the government will be changing the tariff that you sell electricity to the grid to c. 40p per unit. Solar panels themselves will reduce our carbon foot print and also allow us to provide more community groups with free use of our halls/church. So we are waiting anxiously to hear from grant awarding bodies. Cornwall Council were incredibly helpful and granted permissions for the hall with ease and also provided advice on the large overshadowing tree.
- LED Lights - If we are granted a faculty to change all our church lights to LED, these will have 100,000 hours of light, no bulbs to change and will cost us 10% of our current lights cost! They will have paid for themselves in c. 6 years.
For more help & suggestions email: cambornepchurch@aol.com.
