During a major re-ordering scheme, Grade II* listed St John's, Waterloo (Diocese of Southwark) embedded the environment in their approach from the start.
Taking full advantage of the shallow-pitched roof, a large solar panel installation is now used to power the heating and lighting in the crypt, making it net zero carbon.
The crypt now has electric infra-red panel heating, LED lighting, and electric kitchen appliances. For the nave, they installed new efficient gas boilers, with heat-pump-ready pipework, to enable the church to switch to a lower carbon option in the future.
Heat loss has been reduced through insulation, draught proofing and double-glazing of the crypt windows.
This page contains a short format video, a written case study, two longer videos and a section with faith-based discussion questions.
Read the case study below
What was done?
Why we acted
Discussion Questions for "Why we acted"
Matthew 13:8 Other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.
In this video, people are sharing the motivation which led them to get involved with this environmental project. They share lots of ideas, prayers and hopes which you might like to discuss. Here are a few questions to help you think, but you might like to start your discussions by talking about the parts of the video that stood out most to you. This video is part of a set of videos, and there are some common themes across them all, particularly around ‘stewardship’ and caring for creation, and around justice for people in poor countries or for future generations. So other videos might include some interesting questions which relate to this video too. Feel free to explore them all!
- Giles talks about action on climate change as a creation imperative and a justice imperative. What do you think he means by that?
- In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, Jesus concludes, “Other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” What kind of fruit do you think is produced when Christians act to take care of creation? Think as widely as you can!