Energy
Church buildings often use a lot of energy, especially for heating. Some church spaces are quite large, and some church spaces are historic with minimal insulation, so heating can be quite tricky. Using energy efficiently, reducing energy use and using renewable energy are some of the ways that churches can demonstrate their care and stewardship of creation.
Electricity Use
Select a renewable electricity retailer.
Unless you’re going off-grid, you will need to buy electricity from an electricity retailer to get your electricity from the national grid. Check out this webpage by Canstar Blue to find out more about clean, green power in New Zealand and which generators and retailers make/support clean power.
Reduce electricity use.
Use energy efficient lighting like LEDs.
The Ministry for the Environment has a four-page info sheet detailing different types of household lamps, benefits of use, as well as safe disposal and clean up of energy saving and mercury containing lamps. See also: https://www.interwaste.co.nz/recycling-faq
Review opportunities for insulation/double glazing.
Replace old, non-renewable and inefficient heating methods at end of life.
Conduct an energy audit, eliminate wasted energy, use timers and sensors.
GenLess is a website by EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority) to help New Zealand individuals, organisations, businesses and the government, to live and work in more climate-friendly ways. The website gives some ideas on how to take meaningful, ongoing action to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions from energy use.
Lifecycle Asset Management and the link to Sustainability
Lifecycle asset management is the discipline of optimally owning and managing an asset through all stages of its lifecycle (design, specification, purchase, installation/construction, operation, maintenance, disposal) at least cost. When done well this saves both money, resources and the planet! The lifecycle cost view ensures that you make the appropriate decisions at the design, specification and purchase stage. This resource on lifecycle asset management will be useful for churches when they are thinking about replacing assets with an eye to financial responsibility and sustainability.
Solar Panels
For people or churches considering solar photo voltaic (PV) panels as a way of using renewable energy, there are a number of things to consider.
This article from the Methodist Church of New Zealand’s Touchstone magazine provides a nuanced reflection on the realities of solar panel installations in Aotearoa: Why Installing Solar Panels Doesn't Cut Carbon in NZ
The cost of PV panels has been reducing significantly over the years, so it is becoming more and more economic. Solar PV at a small scale on houses and businesses is more popular in internationally in places where there are subsidies (like in Australia) whereas in New Zealand solar PV is not subsidised. Installing solar PV may not make economic sense for everyone, so it’s important to do some research if you are intending to do this to save some money. If you are prepared for using solar PV to cost you more than your current electricity arrangements and know what that cost is, that’s also valid – there are good environmental reasons for preferring to use renewable electricity from the sun.
Here are some useful Q&A topics to think about.
What is the usual process if you install solar PV on your house or church?
You will need to go through a process of getting approval to connect your solar PV to your local electricity distribution network. This application is not to your retailer but it is to the lines network that provides the cables or overhead lines that connects to your property. Your solar installer or electrician can help or make the application for you. Your retailer will need to be informed, so that if it isn’t already, your meter can be made suitable for two-way electricity flow (export from your property to the network or import from the network to your property). Your property will export electricity when your solar PV is producing more electricity that you are using inside your property (like in the middle of a sunny day when there is no heating or cooking). Your property will import electricity when the sun is not shining or the load in the property is more than the solar PV is producing (like early in the morning or in the evening when the sun is down and you’re cooking or re-heating your hot water cylinder).
What is the usual deal from your electricity retailer if you install solar PV on your house or church?
Depending on what retailer you are with, you will pay a given rate for electricity used – say that is $0.30 per kWh (kiloWatt hour – a unit of electricity). You pay that whenever you are importing electricity into your property. If you are self-generating from your solar PV, you will avoid this $0.30 cost and your cost of electricity is the cost that pays back the investment you’ve made in your solar PV installation, over it’s useful life (say 25 years) – say this is $0.20 per kWh. If you generate more electricity than you are using, you will export back to the network, and your retailer will pay you a rate that reflects the wholesale cost they would buy electricity at – this may vary between retailers but say this is $0.08 per kWh. Note that the difference between the wholesale, bulk generated price of electricity and retail price is made up of the cost of transmission, distribution and the retailer’s operational costs and margin – so there is a reason for this. Using the example approximate numbers above, any solar PV electricity you self-consume will save you $0.10 per kWh. If you export solar PV electricity you only get $0.08 per kWh, but have to pay $0.30 per kWh whenever you are not producing it yourself.
What can you do to maximise the value of solar PV if you are installing it?
It is important to know the difference in what you pay for electricity import and what you get paid for the exported solar PV electricity. Understanding this helps you maximise the value from your solar PV and and make it pay off faster as an investment. So the best approach is to self-consume as much of your solar PV electricity as you can. That means trying to shift your electricity use into daylight periods, especially when solar potential is highest around midday. That can include using timers on appliances (dishwashers, washing machines and driers, ovens/slow cookers) or timing electricity use for daylight hours. For this reason, solar PV has a good match with commercial businesses operating during the day, and may work for churches that operate activities, administration and ministry functions during the day.
If you have time-of-use (TOU) or smart metering for your property, your retailer may have an app or website where you can see your 24-hour electricity use profile. That would allow you to assess how much electricity you are using during times when solar would be operating. You could run some trials in shifting your electricity use, to see what difference that would make and give you a better idea of how much self-consumption of solar PV electricity you could achieve.
Is solar PV reliable?
No, solar PV is a very intermittent renewable source, so in most cases a connection to the local distribution network is needed to ensure you can get reasonably priced electricity whenever you need it. You can get very high output shaped like a bell curve on a brilliant summer’s day, then the next day it’s overcast and raining and output is almost zero.
What sort of physical factors should be considered in thinking about solar PV?
A single solar PV panel producing 250W (you’d need six of these to fuel your average toaster or hot water jug) has dimensions of circa 1600mm x 1000m and weighing 20kg. An average domestic house might have 12 panels giving 3kW of peak output, but this does require quite a considerable roof area. In New Zealand your roof area needs to face north to get the sun and maximise production, and an angle of circa 22 degrees depending where you are in NZ will also get the best output. A north facing roof will produce peak production in the middle of the day, while panels on an east roof slope and a west roof slope will have less overall output, but will produce more output in the morning and evening that could benefit higher domestic electricity self-consumption. Solar suppliers or installers can provide forecasts of what consumption you could expect for your property, and assist in right-sizing the panels for your electricity use. However, it’s worth noting that the connection/installation cost of a solar PV system don’t scale down as much with a smaller installation – so smaller installations are proportionally more costly than larger ones. Also have a think about the condition of your current roof – if it needs replacement within the next 20 - 25 years, you may have to disconnect and remove the solar panels, then replace that section of the roof before re-installing the solar.
How can I check if solar PV makes economic sense for my house or church?
As noted above, solar PV makes the most economic sense if you can maximise self-consumption and size your solar installation to match your needs. EECA (New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) is a government organisation that has provided an independent solar calculator called the Solar Tool to help assess if solar PV makes economic sense for you. You’ll need a copy of your power bill, or preferably one summer and one winter bill to average your use over the year.
To give an example, for a house with a wood burning heater, gas hot water and a family of five in Hamilton, a solar PV system had a pay-back period of 24 years – only just less than the expected life of the system, so didn’t make much economic sense. However, that household didn’t use much electricity due to the wood burner and the gas hot water. A fully electric house would be much more likely to suit solar PV, especially if there is good self-consumption, e.g. from people being at home during the day.
It’s also valid to get solar PV for non-economic reasons – solar is a renewable resource and at the moment in NZ, will replace electricity that is generated from non-renewable and carbon emitting thermal power stations burning coal and natural gas. However, doing the economic check just means you are making an informed decision about investing in solar PV, an asset that may last about 20 to 25 years. If the economic payback period on solar PV was longer than it’s expected life, it would likely need replacing before it’s paid itself off.
There are alternatives to installing your own solar PV, what about those?
There is an alternative to investing your own money in a solar PV system. Some companies are offering deals where they install and own the solar panels on your roof and sell you electricity. This is like a solar PV rental – you are effectively offering the roof to install their system on, so you can get a deal on electricity that should save you money and means most of your electricity is renewable (some non-renewable electricity may come from the network). Some suppliers are also offering a battery, so that solar PV charges the battery first before being exported to the network. This both allows you to have solar PV electricity to use during the evening when the sun is down, and if the system is set up that way, allow you to continue to have electricity when there is a network outage (power cut). That could be quite attractive if you are in a rural area and get a lot of network outages. However, with batteries there are a few things to think about – there is an inefficiency in converting electricity into a battery then back to use in your house, so some is wasted, and a battery is quite expensive, so it’s still factored into the cost of the electricity deal. If for example your church doesn’t use much electricity at night, it might make more sense to have a system without a battery and avoid that cost.
Other aspects to consider with these solar rental deals are:
The supplier will size a system to match a proportion of your electricity use that makes economic sense and the balance of the electricity you need will be supplied from the network by them as a retailer. It’s important to have a think about the price they are offering and the assumptions about that when they are quoting savings you should make. They will be basing those savings around future electricity prices, which could change quite a lot over the life of the system they are installing. They might be resetting the cost of your electricity every year, but once you are on the contract, you take that price.
One example of a supplier is offering a 20-year contract for their system – that means they have a right to have it on your roof for 20 years and you are required to take that electricity under the terms of the agreement. It’s important to review the contract terms carefully to understand their rights and your obligations before signing a contract, and if necessary, get some advice so you understand the implications.
Practical implications like the current state of your roof and when it might need to be replaced should be thought about, as well as the space to install a battery if that’s included. Factor in that if you remove a solar PV system from your roof, there will be some repair work required to waterproof the attachment points and your roof will have some eco-scars to show for it!
Seek more information about the deals on offer. Research reviews online of the company and the deals. Either way, it pays to do your homework thoroughly!
Other General Energy Tips:
Christian Reformed Church’s Climate Witness Project produced a booklet called Budgets and Creation Care: A Guide for Reducing Energy Consumption - it has some energy savings ideas to explore in your church.
GenLess - A website by EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority) to help New Zealand individuals, organisations, businesses and the government, to live and work in more climate-friendly ways. The website gives some ideas on how to take meaningful, ongoing action to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions from energy use.
EECA - The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) in a NZ crown-entity focusing on energy efficiency, energy conservation and the use of renewable energy sources. So if you want to be in the know about news, regulations and initiatives in NZ around energy efficiency and renewable energy, check out this website or subscribe to their newsletter.
Interesting articles to read:
Church Buildings - to the glory of God?
Megan Woods to look into 'green' electricity certificates
Church asks council for $500,000 loan to fund solar farm for Hawke's Bay
Hastings Church hatches solar plan to reduce energy poverty
Community Energy Projects in Aotearoa
“We can produce our own power: Community Energy Projects in Aotearoa” is a short film documentary that features Community Energy Projects in Aotearoa and their benefits for people and the planet.
The documentary comes at a time when Aotearoa New Zealand and the world are looking for innovative solutions to power down the fossil fuel industry and power up renewable energy for all. Despite the challenges that come with navigating an electricity market that favours large-scale utility providers, a number of communities in Aotearoa have been leading the way in creating a just transition.
350 Aotearoa visited community energy projects in Te Ika-a-Māui (North Island) to talk to the unsung heroes who have been quietly redesigning their communities to improve energy access and resiliency, address energy poverty, create jobs, support the community, and tackle climate change.
This documentary will leave you feeling hopeful and excited to be part of the movement fighting for a just, prosperous, and equitable world built with the power of engaged citizens. Find out more at: www.350.org.nz/we-can-produce-our-own-power
Relevant Eco Church stories
