Church Heating

Church heating and Net Zero Carbon

In churches, heating makes up by far the largest proportion of the energy usage on site, followed, to a lesser extent, by lighting. On average, heating is responsible for about 85% of a church’s energy consumption.

In 2020 General Synod set the whole Church of England an ambitious challenge to be Net Zero Carbon by 2030. The scale of the task is enormous, and so the Church of England has been very careful focus on reducing the carbon emissions which come from running our buildings (the Scope 1 and 2 emissions) and some business travel. Scope three emissions (upstream and downstream carbon impacts) will be brought into scope after 2030.

The Faculty Jurisdiction Amendment Rules 2022, which came into effect in July 2022, now require churches to have “due regard” to the Church Building Council's advice on Net Zero Carbon, for those proposals where it applies. Consequently, replacement fossil fuel heating systems now require a Faculty permission. To support churches with this the Diocesan Advisory Committee has developed a policy for faculty applications for church heating.

For any queries please contact dac@elydiocese.org.

Further Resources

• DAC heating policy document - Diocese of Ely
• Church usage spreadsheet - for use in Parishes
• Routemap to NZC from the Church of England
• Watch Heating webinars from the Church of England

The Diocese of Ely Church Buildings & Pastoral Department held a training day of seminars focussing on Church Heating during June 2023.

The day brought together a wide range of expertise to help churches to understand the rules governing the management of church heating, with a real focus on helping parishes to achieve the Net Carbon Zero goal adopted by the Diocese of Ely and the Church of England.

Presentations from the day

• Net Zero Carbon - Geoffrey Hunter
• Solar panels and heatpump at Waterbeach - Richard Stobart
• General Heating Options for Churches  - Bawden Burrows
• Heat Pumps - Shane Browne of Mitsubishi
• Pew Cushion Heating - Richard Hammerschmidt
• St Mary's, March, Heat Pump Case Study - Bob Skelton
• Solar PVs on Churches - Alexandros Michalitsianos of Arch:Angel
• Wiring Installation - Church Heating - John Morgan