British Churches Are Putting Their Faith in Heat Pumps

In many churches, often strapped for cash, the switch to a heat pump may be borne from necessity. Staff at St. Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, which already had solar panels, opted to make the jump to a heat pump system when one of their old gas boilers failed.

“The church decided this was a good time to try and commit to it,” says Nicholas Jackson, from architectural design firm Nicholas Vanburgh Ltd. Jackson is also a fabric officer for the church. Last year, two table-like, upward-facing air source heat pumps were installed in a small yard next to the 15th-century building. These connect to an Edwardian cast iron radiator system, and the heat pumps are currently running at a COP of 4.

The church also opted for a battery storage system. Jackson says he’s still unsure of exactly how the heat pumps will cope during a really cold spell—one gas boiler remains as a backup.

“We were very blessed to be one of the early adopters on some of this stuff,” says Reverend Edward Carter, the vicar. He adds that within the church is an “Earth Chapel,” intended to focus 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 are far from the only community-centric buildings in the UK currently reengineering how they do things. Village halls, covered markets, and public transport hubs are also, in some cases, putting in solar panels, LED lighting, and electric-powered heating systems.

For certain believers, though, the spiritual component of decarbonization is key. There’s something deeper at work here, and perhaps enthusiasm like this could accelerate society’s broader transition towards cleaner technologies. Knott’s opinion is that Christians should be motivated, by scripture itself, to look after the planet.

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