5 minute read
Are we planning for winter?
Robin Davey offers some advice for congregations to conserve heating and lighting costs over the coming winter.
On a lovely May morning I was chatting to the minister of a church on the slopes of Divis Mountain. The sun streamed in through the tall windows onto the people of the congregation who were preparing to leave. We walked through the vestibule, from the steps at the entrance. Looking west, the Belfast hills rose above us and turning east we could see the lower slopes of the mountain meeting the blue waters of Belfast Lough. I knew I would sound a discordant note, as I asked the minister if he was concerned about the cost of heating the church buildings in the coming winter, due to escalating prices of natural gas and heating oil.
“We’ll wear our coats,” he said cheerily. Knowing him and his congregation I am sure they will set an excellent example. With increases in heating oil and natural gas since then, they will certainly be given the opportunity to demonstrate their resilience this winter.
This energy crisis should be encouraging our congregations to consider how they should plan to deal with heating bills this winter. To give comparison of how much this increase will be: if the price of a loaf of bread, say £1.50, was to go up by the same amount as heating oil has over the last two years, it would cost over £4 and if it increased by the price of natural gas, it would be over £5. In parallel with this, electricity costs have also risen. As we are now well into the autumn, it is timely to consider what steps we should take.
What should we do?
Service the boiler(s)
All boilers should be serviced once a year, ideally just as we enter the cold weather season. The heating engineer should be asked to carry out a flue gas analysis, to assess the boiler’s efficiency.
Make sure the controls are working and understood
Heating time clocks and temperature control thermostats, if properly set, can ensure that buildings are heated when occupied and the temperatures are adequate but not excessive. It is important that at least two people who are competent at adjusting these controls should be in charge.
Record usage
Recording electricity usage can be considered a nuisance, but it is important. A 10-year-old schoolgirl or boy could learn to read the electricity meter and record the readings each week. A teenager could design a spreadsheet to calculate the weekly usage and cost per week. This recording is important as it not only provides an up-to-date record of usage and cost, but it also highlights if usage suddenly rises. If the readings are taken weekly or monthly, it is easy to trace the cause of this rise and correct it. If we are relying on checking the bills at the end of two or three months, it can be a tortuous process and allow the excess usage to continue for weeks or even months before being identified.
If the boiler has a fuel meter (as is the case with natural gas), readings should be recorded weekly or monthly. In the case of oil-fired boilers with no fuel meter, it is more difficult; it may be necessary to rely on the speed at which refills are needed.
Lighting
Lighting has improved enormously in efficiency in the last 30 years. Twenty years ago, the compact fluorescent lamp was introduced. This improved lighting efficiency three-fold and extended the life of each lamp from 2,000 hours to 10,000 hours. In the last 10 years, the light emitting diodes or LED have swept the market. These further improve energy efficiency by a multiple of four over the compact fluorescent and extend the lamp life to over 50,000 hours. They also light up instantaneously compared to the more gradual mode of the fluorescent lights. When considering lighting in large halls, churches and rooms that are lit for long periods, the replacement of non-LED lighting should be planned. This can be done gradually as the old lights stop working or as a complete relamping of existing lighting.
Hard decisions
The recommendations listed above are useful low-cost suggestions – they will be effective in saving energy and reducing the church’s carbon footprint. When facing the unprecedented financial and geopolitical threats brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we should consider more sweeping decisions. In many churches, the church hall is a younger and more energy efficient building than the church. In cases where we have serious concerns about the cost of heating, it may be advisable to consider moving Sunday worship to the church hall during the five months of November to March. This could be an opportunity for creative thinking, we might design tapestries (with the relevant provisos for fire safety), to decorate the walls and conserve heat. In considering such a drastic change, the savings achieved could contribute towards future investment in a more efficient condensing boiler, or upto-date LED lighting and lighting controls.
Debate, decide and act
This article is not a list of rules set in stone. It is intended to encourage churches individually and as an Assembly to think ahead, share ideas and prepare creatively for difficult times. If we can reduce our energy usage, it will help to reduce our energy costs and indirectly give small support to the people in the world who face devasting poverty due to this catastrophe.
Further energy advice
Energy advice from nidirect www.nidirect.gov.uk/contacts/nienergy-advice
Advice from Commission for Regulation of Utilities www.cru.ie/home/energy-saving-advice
Robin Davey is a member of Armagh Road Presbyterian Church, Portadown. A past chairman of the Northern Ireland branch of the Energy Institute, he is an energy management consultant with over 30 years of experience.
