Reducing St Edmund's Carbon Footprint

St Edmund's will soon be generating it's own energy! No, we won't be asking the congregation on Sunday morning to pedal while they pray though that is an idea!

We are blessed with magnificent church and hall buildings at St Edmund's but they come at a price. When the buildings were established over a hundred years ago the people of Roundhay had no idea about global warming or about how much the buildings would cost to run. Eco issues are a major concern to us in the 21st century and the Hall committee are keen to do our bit for St Edmund's by reducing our carbon footprint and to keep maintenance costs down.

Currently the hall has a large roof in need of repair with almost non-existent loft insulation, a heating system that is slow and inefficient and outside doors that easily allow heat to escape when propped open. The current heating system probably heats the area below the floor as much as the halls above! Our first task is to try to reduce heat loss by putting in new doors, so this will be the first obvious sign that we are making progress towards our target of reducing our energy consumption.

The next and exciting element is re-roofing the hall and installing insulation and generating electricity by putting solar panels on the roof. We then aim to replace the boiler and whole heating system with a more modern fuel efficient one that can respond to the present day needs of the hall and its users.

Solar energy is one of a range of "green energy" options that are available to all of us who are home owners. Our hall has a south facing roof slope, hidden from view, which is ideal for solar generation. Photo-voltaic panels will be installed on the roof next spring as part of the roofing and insulation work. These will generate electricity through daylight hours, meeting some of the hall's and church's electricity needs and any excess will be fed into the local electricity system. So who knows, some of the electricity you use at home may be generated at the hall.

How can we afford it? The Hall Committee has saved money over the years so we can replace the roof. Grants are available for micro-generation and insulation from a range of sources and we hope these will cover the cost of purchase and installation. We have secured funding from the "Community Sustainable Energy Programme" for 50% of the solar panels and insulation of the roof. We have also applied to EDF - the energy supplier, for the remaining 50% of the solar panel costs. We hope to get around £28,000 in grants.

We should soon be generating 2500KWh of electricity a year saving 1.1 tonnes of carbon a year for the next 25 years. In addition to a reduction in the bill for the energy we consume, we will be paid for the electricity we feed into the grid through the "Feed in Tariff" announced by the government earlier this year. Money we can spend on more energy saving ideas! A win-win situation. So you can see what the system is doing, we will put a display panel in the corridor of the hall showing how much energy we have generated and our energy consumption over time.

So for once, we are not asking you for money but we are keen to spread the 'eco' message and encourage everyone in our community to accept the green energy challenge in their own homes. You don't need to wait until you see our system up and running before you act at home (or encourage your employer to take action). Grants are available for households to install solar panels. Recent publicity has been given to companies who will install a system on your roof and give you free electricity. The government has set challenging sustainable energy targets and we are happy to play our part in meeting these. Are you?

John Irving