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One of the largest expenses in most Places of Worship is the energy that is used for heating and lighting. There are a number of simple things that you can do to make your Place of Worship more energy efficient and help reduce your costs.
Heating
Modern boilers are much more efficient than old ones and regular servicing also helps make heating systems more efficient. Regularly 'bleeding' radiators to remove the air that collects in the top of the radiator improve the system efficiency, and so does 'lagging' hot water pipes and tanks with insulation (which also reduces the risk of people burning themselves).
A competent person should only adjust and service heating systems. Many systems are 'balanced' to make sure that the radiators will receive the right amount of hot water.
Sometimes, radiators clog up and need to be flushed out. A sign that this is needed is when part of the radiator (low down) does not heat up. This can significantly affect the efficient heating of a room.
Heat is lost through draughts in windows, doors and floors. Where possible, block up any place where there are draughts and install double-glazing (which does not have to be plastic - wooden ones are available). Lagging the roof space can provide major savings on heating bills.
Of course, heat is lost directly through open windows and doors, so close these whenever you are using heating or air conditioning. Fitting good quality draught excluders goes along way to reducing energy bills and self-closing doors prevent you forgetting to shut the door behind you.
Hest rises, so it might be possible to circulate the heat from high-up down to the lower part of the room using fans or ducted ventillation systems.
Lighting
The simplest way to reduce lighting costs is to replace old light bulbs with modern compact-fluorescent, energy saving lamps. These cost slightly more than a normal light bulb but need only 1/5 the energy. In fact, even better savings can be made by spending a bit more on LED lighting, which lasts for a very long time and uses very little energy.
Old fluorescent tubes become very inefficient. Change both the lamp and the starter together for best results. You can also get lamps with a silvered coating to reflect the light down, and most new lamps are thinner than old ones, which means that they are more efficient (but they don't work in some old fittings). LED versions are commonly available.
Dirty light fittings also reduce efficiency. After turning off the mains, wipe over the fitting with a moist cloth. You can also wipe the lamp if it is a normal bulb or a fluorescent tube.
It sounds simple, but turn off lights when they are not needed. Automatic controls can be useful to turn off outside lights after pre-set times or in daylight.
The typical security floodlight can be expensive to run - a typical one is 500 watts, that is half of a one-bar heater! In fact, high-powered lighting can often cause problems with glare, so lower powered light sources might be a better option.
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