Shrinking the Footprint

I cycled over to St Edmund's church in Stoulton, to talk to the church wardens about saving energy and renewable energy sources.

There are plenty of reasons why considering energy is a good idea. For example, oil prices are going up, and high and increasing energy bills are wasting the church's money. Investing in renewables, if feasible, could provide a revenue source, and the opportunity to work with the surrounding community on a bulk-buying renewables scheme. Improving the heating would increase the comfort levels for the congregation, and create a better space for community events. And then there is climate change, and climate justice for the developing world. The Church of England has a carbon footprint the size of Sainsbury's. It also has a Shrinking the Footprint campaign and targets for reducing emissions: by 42% reduction by 2020, and by 80% by 2050. Most of the carbon emissions from churches are from space heating and lighting, so addressing these helps to address climate change.

Dioceses have their own manifestations of the Shrinking the Footprint campaign. Worcester Diocese has an Environmental Strategy, but as yet I have only skim-read it, so can't comment. During 2009-10, I spent ten months working with Martyn Goss on the campaign in the Diocese of Exeter. If any are interested, we set up a jolly good website which provides lots of information for churches thinking about energy and the environment, and some case studies of churches which have already taken action.

I cycled up to Stoulton in the fog, and returned in the sunshine.