Archdiocese of Cologne imposes moratorium on gas and oil heating
DOMRADIO.DE: Do the few heaters in churches matter at all?
Christian Weingarten (Environmental Officer of the Archdiocese of Cologne): We have almost 1,000 churches in the Archdiocese of Cologne and they are usually very large buildings. When you heat large buildings, you need a lot of energy. Therefore, because of the number and the large room volume, we are talking about a lot of CO2 emissions from heating churches.
DOMRADIO.DE: Churches are a real challenge when it comes to heating. What are the alternatives to gas or even oil heating?
Vineyard: The alternatives start with rethinking. That’s why we started the moratorium to not install the same heaters as in the last 50 years. We would like to consider how we can heat churches differently.
For example, with seat heating. The idea behind this is to produce heat where people die, die, or attend church, actually sit. Another option is via radiant heat. The technology has come a long way.
It is now up to us to transfer this technology into our places of worship. For this we ask ourselves what is the best solution in which place to save energy and switch the energy that is still needed to renewable sources.
DOMRADIO.DE: The alternatives all need electricity. How should the churches get green electricity?
Vineyard: In order to reduce the demand for electricity, it is also about saving energy. With the seat heaters, for example, we can quickly save 80 percent of the energy in one fell swoop. That’s a lot.
The rest of the energy must come from renewable electricity. In the best case, there is a large parish center or a day-care center with a photovoltaic system next to the church. On Sunday mornings, when there is a service and the building is empty, the church can then use the self-produced electricity from next door to heat the church.
DOMRADIO.DE: What other ideas do you have? Are structural changes to churches also necessary?
Vineyard: Of course, we also deal with the question. If there are small prayer groups like a rosary prayer or a small family service where only a few people are there, does the whole church have to be heated?
These are long-term approaches. For this, the church heaters would have to be built modularly. But that’s often the case in Italy. There you have small heated areas that can accommodate ten to 20 people. So you can pray together in the warm in winter, but the entire church does not have to be heated. We can also reconsider structurally and break new ground in the subject of heating.
DOMRADIO.DE: They are in constant exchange with experts from other dioceses, regional churches and internal energy experts. Who can we learn from?
Vineyard: The Archdiocese of Freiburg has come a long way on this topic and has been doing many projects for years. We work very closely with her. But many state churches, such as the Berlin-Brandenburg state church, have come a long way on the subject. Gas and oil heating systems have not been installed there for a long time. Have innovative ideas already been developed? We can learn something from these pilot objects: what actually works? And what is the output of it all?
DOMRADIO.DE: By 2023, new sustainable specifications for the heating of sacred spaces in the Archdiocese of Cologne are to come into force. What do communities do that need a new heating system beforehand?
Vineyard: No, we use them to develop the new methods. We want to work with the communities and companies to bring the new concepts into the first pilot projects in our diocese. The other parishes should be able to copy and copy from these pilot objects in the next few years.
DOMRADIO.DE: How have the municipalities reacted to the moratorium so far?
Vineyard: Surprisingly, all the feedback so far has been positive. It’s probably also due to the time. A year ago it would have been different. But so far we’ve had really consistently positive and even encouraging, interesting feedback. The mood is like: Yes, that’s the right step. We have to go now, even if it hurts and sometimes it’s a bit colder. We need to rethink this whole issue to move forward in the transition to renewable energy.
The war in the Ukraine and the gas supplies from Russia caused another rethink. In addition to the ecological questions, these points are another pillar of motivation to tackle the topic quickly.
DOMRADIO.DE: Can private individuals learn something from these solutions for churches?
Vineyard: Not directly from the concrete solutions, but from the approach: rethinking. Even in private life you don’t have to replace everything one-to-one, but if you want to act ecologically, you should ask yourself what really makes sense or whether there might be a completely different way.
The interview was conducted by Hilde Regeniter.