Environment

Background

As you may be aware, in 2011 the Methodist Church adopted the report Hope in God’s Future: Christian Discipleship in the Context of Climate Change as a Conference statement. This joint report produced by the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union and the United Reformed Church reminded the Methodist Church in Britain that our response to the climate emergency and our care for creation is a central and integral part of our discipleship.

In 2021 the Methodist Conference set an aspirational target for the Methodist Church in Great Britain to become a net zero Church by 2030. The Conference called on all ministers, preachers and church members to take action in response.

In Great Ayton with Easby Methodist Church we have been responding this target over the past few years with a number of actions. For example we have changed lights in the main church to LED, we have changed electricity supplier to ensure we use renewable electricity, we have registered as an ECO Church, we recycle as much as possible and last October church council adopted an Environmental Policy.

We were also aware that in Great Ayton church we had a very ageing, inefficient gas boiler (over 30 years old) for which no spares are readily available and that this needed to be replaced before it finally broke down. We are also blessed to be on a south facing site, with a church roof which is ideal for mounting solar panels to generate renewable energy. Installing solar panels would act as a very visible witness to the community of our commitment to sustainability, as well as helping to reduce our energy bills going forward.

Following a report funded by N Yorkshire council in early 2024, we developed an action plan which we believed would

  • Meet the aspirations of becoming net zero
  • Solve the issue of the ageing gas boiler by using Air Source Heat Pumps
  • Reduce our ongoing energy bills
  • Demonstrate our commitment to protecting God’s creation and act as a very visible witness to the wider community.

Project scope

The project involved improving our insulation, fitting Air Source Heat Pumps, installing solar panels and battery storage and installing additional LED lighting. The total project cost was around £100k.

Church council committed £42.5k from reserves for the project, and we received a grant from the Benefact Trust of £9.5k. We will also receive £15k via the government Boiler Upgrade scheme.The final total from the Aviva matched crowdfunding is £22,377 (this includes the Gift Aid value), and several other gifts have been given to our treasurer. This means that we exceeded our £20k target – many thanks to all those who generously donated.

We are also pleased to say that we have been awarded a major grant and support from Net Zero York & North Yorks Combined Authority which forms part of a larger decarbonisation effort across the Yorkshire N&E Methodist District. The grant helped fund additional insulation, solar panels and battery system. This means that we met out funding target and our church council has given its final go-ahead for the project.

What was done?

  • The insulation in the cavity wall and roof insulation and the solar panels and batteries have been installed.
  • The batteries heat pumps are installed and operating
  • The building has been divided into six heating zones rather than the previous three which allows more flexible and economical usage.
  • LED lighting is installed around the building