British churches put their trust in heat pumps

In many, often cash-strapped, churches, switching to a heat pump may be a result of necessity. Staff at St Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, which already had solar panels, chose to switch to a heat pump system when one of their old gas boilers failed.

“The church decided it was a good time to try to stick with it,” says Nicholas Jackson, of architectural design firm Nicholas Vanburgh Ltd. Jackson also works as the church’s textile officer. Last year, two tabletop, upward-facing heat pumps were installed in a small courtyard next to the 15th-century building. These connect to an Edwardian cast iron radiator system, and the heat pumps currently operate at a COP of 4.

The church also opted for a battery storage system. Jackson says he’s still not sure how the heat pumps will cope during the extreme cold, with one gas boiler remaining as a backup.

“We’ve been very fortunate to be early adopters of some of these things,” says the Rev. Edward Carter, pastor. He adds that inside the church there is an “earth chapel” aimed at focusing Christian minds on the importance of the environment. “We’re trying to say something to the city of Norwich here, and maybe to the wider world,” says Carter.

Churches aren’t the only community-focused buildings in the UK re-engineering how things are currently done. Village halls, Covered marketsand Public transportation hubs In some cases, solar panels, LED lighting and electrically powered heating systems are also installed.

However, for some believers, the spiritual component of decarbonization is key. There is something deeper at work here, and perhaps such enthusiasm can accelerate society’s broader transition toward clean technologies. Knott’s view is that Christians should be motivated, by the Bible itself, to care for the planet.

“We’re not jumping on the bandwagon,” he says. “This has been a message for 2,000 years.”