Churches are large structures with an open interior to accommodate people for worship. Due to this plan, churches tend to be expensive in terms of energy usage. There are a variety of factors that need to be considered when determining the church’s energy usage.
Size and energy usage of a church
An average church is approximately around 400 square meters. These churches are usually heated with electrical heaters and require a lot of lighting sources. These churches are used for more than just service. There are various community events, choir practice, weddings, christenings, and other worship services like service and meetings that require the church to remain open and functioning. This all can account for several hours of energy usage.
Churches are holy places of worship which means they must be open 24 hours every week. This makes it difficult to control and reduce energy bills. However, smart changes can drastically reduce your energy bills. It would help if you start monitoring the amount of time and energy used when it is needed and when it is not.
You should know the peak hours when the church has the most crowd. Every church will have different energy usage, depending upon the space covered by the church and the number of appliances used. In an average church, the energy usage is around 10 times more than an average residential home, so the churches energy prices are relatively higher. So what exactly do churches use that consumes the most energy?
What uses the most energy?
Ventilation, cooling, and heating account for most of the energy usage in churches.
Electricity uses include:
- Heating which uses 5%
- Cooling, which uses 13%
- Refrigeration which uses 6%
- Cooking which uses 2%
- Office equipment which uses 8%
- Lighting, which uses 11%
- Ventilation which uses 16%
- Miscellaneous, which uses 37%
While natural gas uses include:
- Cooking which uses 6%
- Heating which uses 89%
- Water heating which uses 5%
How to reduce energy bills?
Now that you know which appliances use the most energy, you can work on decreasing their usage when it’s not needed. You can save a lot of energy during the day. Instead of turning on the lights, let sunlight light up the church. Install smart thermostats that automatically turn off when there are no people inside the church or when the temperature is pleasant.
You can install high-efficiency HVAC units, sensors, demand-controlled ventilation units, and economizers to cut costs. Now more than ever, energy prices are skyrocketing, and worship places such as churches usually have a small budget and the funds they have to survive. Churches have to cover many other costs in that budget, not just electricity costs. This is why it is time for you to take the first step and work towards an energy-efficient church.
The bottom line
Several churches around the UK are dealing with small budgets and rising retail energy prices. There are many ways to lower energy usage and save money on bills in your place of worship.
You can find professional guidance on saving energy efficiently and effectively and find cheap electricity and gas deals. You can also get help to switch to cheaper energy suppliers. In this way, churches can ensure that they efficiently save energy and money at the place of worship in the long run.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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