CASE STUDY
When the parishioners of one of the UK’s finest Anglo Saxon churches were looking at how to make their place of worship more environmentally friendly, they took inspiration from a BBC’s Songs of Praise feature on St Denys Church in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, which had fitted solar Photovoltaic (PV) power generating panels.
Now, after a £50,000 investment, the congregation at All Saints Church, Wing with Grove in Buckinghamshire has not only reduced the building’s carbon footprint significantly but also found a way of generating an income for decades to come.
The PV Array from Mitsubishi Electric was installed by Freewatt Ltd which is the leading solar PV installer in Lincolnshire and the surrounding counties. Freewatt, which also installed the system at St Denys Church, specialises in designing and installing solar PV systems for domestic, commercial, schools, churches and investment projects.
The company has developed a unique method of attaching PV Arrays to church roofs, which helps comply with planning permission. In the
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE CHURCH TAPS
INTO POWER FROM ABOVE - Mitsubishi Electric
case of All Saints, the 54 PV panels were installed on the nave and south aisle roofs and are cleverly hidden from view behind the church’s parapet.
“We wanted to support the Church of England’s national environmental campaign called Shrinking the Footprint,” explained former church warden Martin Findlay, who led the project. “In light of the current global climate change crisis, we felt that, in addition to praying at services for Christians to look after God’s creation, the Church should take action to reduce its carbon footprint.”
The PCC began a feasibility study into the scheme and then began to raise funds, get a ‘faculty’ (special permission from the Diocese to carry out the work), and planning permission from Aylesbury Vale District Council.
Findlay visited St Denys Church in Sleaford to find out more after realising that all churches face east and are therefore likely to have south-facing roofs, which are ideal for solar installations. He then contacted Freewatt directly.
|150| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164