Friday 1 May 2020

The Church of England sheds light on a holy ‘practical path’ for net zero carbon

The Church of England has published a practical guide to reaching net zero carbon, with the aim to summarise how churches can reduce their energy use and associated carbon dioxide emissions.

Based on the findings of a church energy audit programme, it offers a 'practical path' to net zero carbon, setting out where most churches should start in order to reach their carbon-neutrality goals.

The organisation suggests churches should have the key priorities of switching to 100% renewable electricity and green gas, maintaining the roof so as to prevent warm air escaping and fixing broken window panes to reduce heat loss.

Replacing lightbulbs with LEDs, insulating heating pipes to direct heat where is needed and turning off the heating 15 minutes before the service ends are among other recommendations found in the guidebook.

Chruch of England also asks churches to use the energy footprint tool, communicate the results every year and offset the remaining amount of energy through environmental schemes.