Measuring the Carbon Footprint

When we were assessed for our EcoCongregation award the major issue we were asked to address was measuring our carbon footprint. It's something I've nonetheless been putting off because the whole thing seems so complex - on a household basis two different calculators can give widely varying results.

However, Oxford diocese have now made it impossible to resist by engaging with sMeasure to allow all churches in the diocese to use their energy measuring software free for this year as part of a pilot project in the hope that the wider Church of England will be involved in subsequent years. Two weeks ago I finally bit the bullet and set up an account. Unfortunately it is impossible to measure the energy use of the church separately from that of St John's school, although some sort of guestimate is possible based on the proportion of bills we've agreed to pay. This Monday I put in my second readings and discovered that the combined school and church emissions of carbon dioxide for the past week came to just over 2 tonnes. Sobering information.

The same software is available for any domestic household to use for free through iMeasure. It is really quite easy even for a technophobe like me and I can see the urge to get those measurements down could be quite constructive.

Solar update

I thought we would be the only cyclists arriving in yesterday's snow but actually there were already two bikes chained up and more inside for those who had been at the Homelessness Sunday sleepover.

Further donations have now brought the total raised from the Clutter Sale to £180. Exclaimers' panel can now be seen on New Christ Church's virtual roof. Thank you to the congregation members who also supported New Christ Church's Bollywood Evening which raised over £500 (thanks to Alamin Tandoori's generous donation of food at a much reduced cost).

Solar Clutter Sale

Thank you to everyone who donated or spent this morning. Exclaimers are delighted to announce that we raised £155 at today's Clutter Sale. This will be split between New Town Primary School in our parish and New Christ Church Primary School which is attended by James and Matthew. If anyone would like to send in any more money to help raise funds for the schools' solar panels, please go to www.solarschools.org.uk and find the school you would like to donate to. Or speak to Hugh or myself about contributing to a church donation.

We had a fantastic spread of donations and I know Mark is very happy with the coffee maker he brought back and the boys have been having great fun with the remote control helicopter! All the non electrical goods that were not sold are now on their way to the Communicare shop. Helen is trying to find a charity shop that will take the electrical goods for us.