Hilton Church Estimated savings 18.52t CO2e
and £5120
Hilton Parish Church consists of a church and small
hall constructed in the 1950s and larger hall constructed in the 1960s. The
church seats about 230 and is full on a Sunday morning. It is also used for
many activities during the week.
Light House Community Café
Development
An
energy audit was completed in 2008, with support from Community Energy
Scotland. In 2009, the old manse adjacent to the church was transformed into ‘The
Light House’: a community café with multi-function rooms. Solar hot water
panels installed at this time help reduce the energy required to heat the hot
water for the café by about 2500kWh a year. Low energy lighting was also
installed. The Light House is now a thriving hub of the community in use six
days a week and several evenings.
Energy Reports
The
Church asked for the 2008 CES report to cover energy saving recommendations for
the church and hall as well as there were plans for a subsequent Church
development project. These were shelved as inappropriate in a time of austerity. The Church board has become increasingly concerned about
rising utility costs in recent years and in mid-2011 Anne Thomas – Co-ordinator
of Friends of the Earth: Inverness & Ross who attends the church– organised
a loan of an Owl energy monitor from the Keep The Heat In campaign and a site
audit with the Energy Saving Trust. The EST report provided information on a
range of measures that were all eligible for financing through the
interest-free loan scheme, although it should be noted that the layout of the
report made it difficult to compare the merits of individual measures.
Solar Photovoltaic
(electric) panels and insulation for the Cafe
Independently, the Church was approached by Community Energy Scotland who highlighted a grant available from the Urban Buildings Fund that would be suitable for installing solar PV panels on the Light House Café. The Church would only need to find 10% of the capital cost, which could be paid back in about three years through electricity savings (the installation would not be eligible for Feed in Tariffs). Installers were also asked to provide estimates for solar panels for the large hall. Quotes were arranged for cavity wall and top up loft insulation which could also be eligible for the grant. Anne then presented installation costs and payback time to the Church board. They realised that the figures they had given to Energy Saving Trust were too low and actual energy costs were higher so this meant potential savings were greater. The board agreed to go ahead with the insulation and proceed with the smaller measures gradually. It was agreed at a subsequent meeting to proceed with the solar panels for the hall using an Energy Saving Trust loan that would be paid back by energy savings and government ‘Feed in Tariffs’ over eight years.
In
early 2012, cavity wall insulation was fitted to the church and small hall and
the original walls of the café by social enterprise company ILM Highland. The
large hall had solid walls that were not suitable for cavity wall insulation.
Loft insulation was topped up to the current 270mm recommendation throughout.
Solar PV panels were installed on the café roof in March 2012 after an anxious
wait for a building warrant. Installation of the 12.72kW PV array on the hall
was next on the list but new regulations meant an energy performance
certificate was needed in order to comply with new regulations coming in on 1st
April.
The
solar array on the Light House café will generate around 3,700kWh a year,
saving around 2.6 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year. Once the 10% upfront cost
is paid back, the panels will save about £26000 on electricity bills and
electricity it exports over the next 25 years. Light House team are also much
more aware of energy saving leading to further reductions in electricity and
gas use.
New Doors
New
energy efficient doors were installed to the Church as part of disabled access
alterations paid for through another grant. These are also transparent and
reduce the need to open them to appear welcoming. A much greater awareness of
energy saving is apparent with the lights left off altogether for the morning
service on a sunny morning.
The
insulation measures installed and new doors should cut heating demand by around
45%, which is equivalent to £1625 a year and make annual savings of 6.1 tonnes
of greenhouse gases with further savings to the Light House due to the cavity
wall insulation. Other measures focused on electricity use which, should be cut
by about 40% saving about £768 or 2.32 tonnes.
Solar Panels for the Hall
The
next stage was installing solar PV panels onto the Hall roof. The roof is a
shallow metal one which was built over an original flat roof. The shallow angle
meant that although the larger sides were West or East facing they had a reasonable
exposure to the sun. Leeds Solar returned and installed a 12.72kW system at the
end of August 2012 in two parts on the South and West facing sides of the roof.
The next stage was installing solar PV panels onto the Hall roof. The roof is a shallow metal one which was built over an original flat roof. The shallow angle meant that although the larger sides were West or East facing they had a reasonable exposure to the sun. Leeds Solar returned and installed a 12.72kW system at the end of August 2012 in two parts on the South and West facing sides of the roof.
Difficulties to be overcome
Despite
all their energy efficiency measures the Church found it difficult to meet the
new requirement that buildings which want to claim Feed in Tariffs at the higher
rate need to have an energy efficiency level of D. With a few extra measures
such as LED lights (6W rather than 100W) and radiator panels their assessor
eventually managed to make the software work. Without this they would have only
received 7.5p per kWh generated rather than 13.5p.
There
was a setback when they found that the Energy Saving Trust Small Business Loan
they had been relying on for about 2/3 of the cost now charged 5% interest
rather than being interest free. This was in order to meet EU regulations
because the ‘Feed in Tariff’ is seen as ‘State Aid’. Their extra energy
efficiency measures loan was still interest free. The board decided it was
still worth going ahead. Then they were told they didn’t have a good enough
credit history. This was because a credit search came up with hardly anything
about them, so the accounts had to be audited manually and were then pronounced
fine.
They
were hoping to install the system just before the end of July when the Feed in
Tariff level was reduced but with all the delays it was becoming very tight and
then a local trade holiday meant there was no scaffolding available in Highland!
However the rates are still
good and they were able to take advantage of a new device which diverts power
to the immersion heater if there is a surplus before exporting it. Hot water
heating was using a lot of energy so this will save even more money, probably about
£200 worth a year (included in electricity savings mentioned earlier).
Predicted output
The
solar system is expected to generate 9480kWh a year, which with reduced energy
use should mean the church is carbon neutral for electricity. Income from the
electricity used on site, that exported at 4.5 p per kWh and the feed in
tariffs which pay 13.5p for generation mean that the panels should pay for
themselves in about 8 years. Since they had a grant from the Church of Scotland
for a quarter of the amount and a donation the loan payments will on average be
less than they make each month. After the loan is paid back in 8 years the
congregation will continue to receive Feed in Tariff payments for 20 years and generate
free power and receive export payments for as long as it lasts. With no moving
parts solar PV is expected to have a long life. Early solar thermal systems are
still going strong after 40 years. The panels should save about 7.5 tonnes of
CO2 a year. The overall profit should be about £43,000 in 20 years.
Many
churches will be in a similar position with escalating costs and would be able
to reduce their carbon footprint and save money and could learn from this case
study.
