Bradford Cathedral EcoCongregation Award

On 25 August 2010 Bradford Cathedral became the second Cathedral in England and the first Cathedral in the North of England to receive the Eco-Congregation Award

The plaque was presented to the Dean of Bradford Cathedral and Emma Towers, a key worker in the The Bradford Cathedral Eco-group by Guest dignitary Nadira Mirza (left) of Bradford University

Behind is the demonstration Solar Panel and beyond that the east window of the cathedral

.A vairiety of activities connected with the buildings and with witness and church services had resulted in the Eco-Congregation Award being given.

Cathedral worker and Head Verger Jon Howard (right) demonstrated the Cathedral smartmeter to visitors Ruth Watkinson from London of "Shrinking the Footprint", the Church of England's Environment Project, and Judith Allinson of CEL and Bradford EarthCare. The cathedral was currently using 12.67kW though had just gone up from 8 kW to this as someone may have switched the water boiler on.

He said that by using the smartmeter they had discovered that using the organ increased the energy usage by 4kW blowing the bellows. (And remember electricity costs between 8p and 15p per kW hour)

Judith said "It is useful to have a smartmeter with a large screen. I shall go home and put my own smartmeter out on display in the foyer of my church to show people there - so that everyone can read it."

Islam Pearson, Managing director of EcoLogicLiving gave a presentation on solutions to saving energy, especially on Photovoltaic panels. people were able to ask questions. Maybe the cathedral one day can have some panels?

He explained about the Feed in Tariffs which the government give at the moment which are guaranteed for 25 years. (Though how long will the government continue to give them?)

John Anderson on Baildon said how pleased he was with the solar panels he has had put on his bungalow a few miles away.

Interesting that that evening on the radio it was announced that Prince Charles is having Photovoltaic panels put on Clarence House. Will this be an encouragement to others?

NOTES:-

Here are some notes made by the web editor before the Cathedral meeting, after reading this month's Ethical Consumer magazine:-

Some people say that the real "pay back" time for solar photovoltaic panels is so long that we would be better off using our money for other things - (saving wildlife habitats, I of course strongly suggest). But with the current government scheme, the payback time will only be about 15 years, after which the panels will be making money through selling electricity to the grid.

And of course production of the panels can cause pollution.

Ethical Consumer, quoting the Centre for Alternative Technology say:

A PV system mounted in the UK will probably have produced between 3 and 7 times as much energy as was required for its production

A fully installed grid-connected domestic PV system is likely to cost from £4000 to £8000 per KW rated capacity.. So a typical 2.5kW PV roof will cost around £15000.

Although the Feed in Tariffs (FiTs) are guaranteed for 25 years, The window of opportunity for the top FiTs - is due to end in less than 20 months, in March 2012. Most people are in danger of missing the boat again. You can only sign up for a FiT if the company you use to
install them are approved by the government's Microgeneration Certification Scheme. Therefore you can't claim it for a DIY scheme.