St Marys is an ancient church, whose origins are entwined with the history of the Anglo-Saxon settlement which became Ilkeston The Church’s History – St Mary's Church, Ilkeston.

It is also a very large church, having been significantly extended over the years.

Like many old churches, heating was probably first added by the Victorians.

Parts of this system are still in use, with heat generated by a boiler which is over seventy years old!

This venerable system is not the most efficient. It is also expensive to run, costing up to  £120 per day in the heating season, and whilst it succeeds in raising the temperature of the building by a few degrees, it struggles to make the building feel warm. On top of this, the church was emitting over ten tonnes of planet warming greenhouse gases every year, making it one of the highest emitters in the diocese.

This became evident when the churches Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) returns were studied. As a result the church became eligible for a free energy audit as part of the national Net Zero programme Reducing emissions from churches | The Church of England

This measured how much heat would need to be generated to keep the whole building warm. The answer was an awful lot! Which would result in bills to match.

There had to be a better way.

Fortunately, the report went on to suggest that a ‘heat the people’ approach might be the answer.

This would involve providing heat directly to the members of the congregation, and not the empty space around them.

After visiting a few churches with different technologies (an important step to get a feel for different solutions), the church decided that they wanted a pew-based heating system.

These use electrical heating either under the pew or in pew cushions.

Importantly, energy is only used to heat the seats which are occupied, tailoring the heating to the congregation.

Equally important, as the system is electrical, using a renewable supply means the heating does not contribute to climate change.

They chose heated pew cushions from Kovoschmidt   ABOUT US - Church pew seats heating

With such a large church, over 200m of cushions were needed! The finished installation looks really smart, with wiring that is barely visible and tasteful blue seats throughout the nave and side chapels.

Midweek services with smaller numbers of congregants are often held in the side or Peter chapel.

I joined such a service on a cool day just before Christmas. As soon as I sat down I could feel the heat emanating from the seat, and the system worked well throughout the service.

The gas boiler is still in operation, but reduced to a supporting role- at a much reduced cost.

The price of running the pew heating in the side chapel is estimated at about £2 per service, which on the day I visited, worked out at about 10p per person!

St Marys are in the process of adding heaters (such as these Pew Heaters | Pew Heating For Churches | BN Thermic) underneath the pews in the Peter chapel as well. These will provide extra heating on the coldest days, and, if rolled out further, allow the gas boiler to be dispensed with altogether. Crucially, they will provide  extra heat  lower down, helping to keep peoples feet warm and provide a ‘blanket’ of warm air around each person.

St Marys is a great example of how a church can reduce its reliance on fossil fuels in stages, and reduce its running costs in the process!

If you would like to know more about how your church could do the same, please get in touch at netzero@derby.anglican.org