Category Archives: Sustainable Buildings

The energy required to heat and light any community building may not be huge compared to the energy demand in the village or neighbourhood as a whole, but it is nonetheless an obvious focus for improvement.

There is often considerable scope for improving the energy efficiency of community buildings. Many have traditional lighting, poor heating systems and no insulation. There may be scope to install insulation and draught-proofing, install movement sensitive lighting, improve windows and doors, replace heating systems, introduce good heating controls and improve the efficiency of hot water use. Such improvements will reduce the running costs of a building, which can often be a struggle for communities to meet, and make the building more comfortable to use.

If these improvements are made, more people will want to use it. This may mean that despite improvements in energy efficiency, overall energy bills and carbon emissions go up because the building is being used much more. This problem can be tackled by switching the type of fuels used. The alternatives are to use low carbon or renewable energy, which will significantly reduce carbon emissions and almost certainly money spent on bills, whilst energy consumption goes up.

If the community halls have a south-facing roof, costs can be cut or income could even be produced if solar panels are installed. These exploit the high tariffs paid to small (including community-scale) generators of renewable energy. This is often an option for churches as their traditional west-east axis typically defines a broad south-facing roof.

Sustainable Building Ideas

• A professional energy audit will provide options about of the improvements that can be made
• Substantially improve energy efficiency of community buildings
• Explore options for using renewable energy to heat and power community buildings
• Look into building using sustainable materials

For more information, please contact Naveen Agnihotri at naveen@agnihotri.co.uk or Chris Kennett at chriskennett01@hotmail.com.