General Net Zero Carbon Resources
The resources below will help you look at the bigger picture of your church energy use and what you need to consider when looking to reduce that use.
This is a great introductory resource which includes interactive images which covers the range of changes which could be made to your church building. As it says at the beginning of the page, No one church could, or should, do everything, so take a look and see what could be most appropriate and viable options to research further.
Net Zero Carbon Church – Church of England
The Practical Path is a key resource which helps you to plan your church’s journey to net zero carbon. It includes some initial low cost ‘quick wins’ which will help you improve efficiency before looking at more major changes. We encourage every parish to complete the Practical Path. It also forms a key supporting document in any application for heating/renewables.
The Practical Path to Net Zero Carbon for Churches – Church of England
The Church of England’s Environment Programme’s webinars are excellent resources. They are generally under an hour and cover a wide range of topics, from particular technologies such as heat pumps in churches, solar panels, and electric heating, to wider advice, such as quick wins, permissions and conservation.
Net Zero Carbon Webinars – Church of England
Heating
Heating makes up over 80% of the carbon use of an average church, so it is understandable that you will want to look at what changes you could make to your heating system to reduce energy use. It is important to note that heating most church buildings is complex and we strongly advise you to get professional advice from a heating consultant if at all possible. These resources will help you to be an informed client and should help you to prepare a brief for your professional.
The Church Buildings Council’s advice on heating is excellent. It is helpfully divided into bitesize chunks so you can take it at your own pace. In particular, we advise you to look at the following pieces of guidance:
- Heating Principles – reading this as a first step will help you to frame any proposals and will ensure that you understand the key principles involved in church heating
- Heating Checklist – it is also very helpful for your to complete this at an early stage. It will help you to consider your wants and needs in terms of heating, as well as understanding your current system better. It would be helpful to share this with any professionals working with you
- Heating options appraisals – this sets out how you should be looking at the options available to you, including how to set out what you have considered as an important supporting document to any application.
Template for heating applications
Under the Faculty Rules changes in July 2022, parishes must now show that they have considered the relevant advice from the Church Buildings Council. You can do this in whatever way you feel is best, but we have provided a template document you can use which asks you questions about the guidance and how you have used it to help inform your decision-making.
The Church Building’s Council has updated their guidance to include information on Hydrogen and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oils (HVO) as part of future heating systems. The short version is that “hydrogen is not likely to be practically and economically viable for use in the short and medium term for heating churches”, and that they “do not support the adoption of HVO as part of the move to net-zero carbon”. There are some caveats around the HVO position and it could change in the future if there is resolution of some issues around the whole life carbon emissions including the knock-on effects on global land use change and deforestation, but is unlikely to change in the short/medium term. You can read the full position statement on the national church website.
As outlined above, the Church of England’s webinars are such a helpful tool in exploring how heating options work for church buildings.
Net Zero Carbon Webinars – Church of England