Micro Combined Heat and Power for Churches and Other Community Buildings 

As we all know technology is continually developing and at a recent national meeting of rural community buildings advisers run by Action with Communities in Rural England I came across a technology which may be of interest to Churches that have access to mains gas.

The principle behind the technology is that as electrical energy is lost during transmission, it is more efficient to distribute natural gas through the gas network and then generate electricity locally using a micro combined heat and power plant (Micro-CHP). The heat energy is then used to heat a home, business or community building and the electricity generated either used in the building or fed in to the national grid for local consumption.

The Government's Microgeneration Strategy has identified Micro CHP as one of the key technologies offering a realistic alternative to centrally generated electricity and it has recently introduced the Feed in Tariff, giving funding to organisations and households that use these technologies.

I have identified two companies that are involved in this technology:

Blue Gen   www.bluegen.info/What-is-bluegen-UK/ 

Baxi           www.baxi.co.uk/products/combinedheatandpower.htm

So, if your Church or home has a gas connection or there is a gas main close by, this may be worth exploring as a way of reducing your energy costs.