Suffolk church to showcase green tech

Cutting edge environmentally friendly technologies are set to be put to the test in a sleepy Suffolk church, having raised over £100,000 in funding for the project.

Work on the Going Green project at Emmanuel Church in Bungay is set to get underway in 2013.

The church is already well-known locally for embracing green energy, having installed 220 solar panels two years ago. The latest plan is on another level, though.

The church hall is to see its wooden floor replaced with a state-of-the-art insulated concrete flooring. The floor will also integrate a ground source heated floor mechanism.

Further than this, two solar thermal panels will be installed, providing a constant supply of hot water. Walls and ceilings will be thoroughly insulated too, while the all windows will be secondarily and triple glazed.

The project coordinator, Graham Gibbs, said an important aspect of the plan is to showcase to the local area what can be achieved with green technologies. He said:

“We believe people need to see it working and if they come in and the large hall is warm in winter it will show it can work in their homes.

“We hope that other people will be able to experience what we are doing and be enthused to do something themselves to reduce their carbon footprint.”

The work will see the hall, which is used by many local community groups, close from February 18 to April 15.

It is likely not to be the last of the environmentally friendly work carried out on the hall, with rainwater harvesting systems already being looked at.