Carbon footprint 2

Last night I reported back to the PCC on the Eco-congregation assessment. It emerged that one of the other home groups had already discussed measuring their footprints and buying a communal OWL (at home we've just borrowed one of these devices for measuring electricity use and it is a real eye-opener - for me the biggest surprise has been how much difference a single notch up on a hotplate control will make. I've always wondered whether boiling a kettle was just faster or really more efficient than boiling water on the hob prior to cooking veg and now I know the kettle is more efficient).

Measuring our carbon footprint is going to be difficult since we pay a set percentage of the gas bill for the whole school/church plant (as well as a small extra bill for the refectory over which we have more control). This however is a good incentive to work more closely with the school, and probably the council too since they have the basic controls for the heating.

I've been in touch with Ecotricity this morning who were very helpful in discussing the 'carbon footprint' question. Unsurprisingly they don't have specific figures to calculate the amount of carbon input that should be taken into account in individual bills (I wonder if a meaningful statistic could even be reached on that?), but they have promised to e-mail me details about the construction of their wind turbines which currently account for 53.6% of the power they supply.
Please see the comments on the previous 'carbon footprint' post for their replies.

Last Sunday (we were away) after the service the congregation went to Mark's workshop for a picnic in the gorgeous sunshine and to see the progress on the new sacramental furniture. Apparently this project will be appearing in a future edition of Furniture and Cabinet Maker.

Sacramental Furniture

This morning's service included a presentation about the new altar, font and paschal stand that have been commissioned. The craftsman is one of our congregation, Mark, and he explained how he saw the creation of this furniture as an act of prayer. The designs are intended to reflect the architecture of the church but also to represent the Trinity and the church as interconnected supports for our community. Each piece is to include glass which should catch the sunlight (in short supply in a church with few windows) echoing the skylight above but also reminding us of the symbolism of light.

Mark always uses FSC certified wood. He intends to use oak for the tops. Unfortunately in Britain we have failed to invest in oak plantations so the only ethically sourced English oak tends to be from fallen branches, not a very practical solution. Consequently he'll be using French oak. The paler supports and arches will be either maple, sycamore or possibly ash. We fell to discussing the matter of plantations. He observed that it would be lovely to be able to use tropical woods, if only people would have the long term vision of profit to manage rainforests in a manner that made this possible. Instead all logging is forbidden or they're destroyed (mostly for the beef industry). Even in this country I know someone whose decision to give land over to an oak plantation a couple of years ago was ridiculed by those without vision.