The Eco Church

By an extraordinary twist of history, its original construction was funded by the very first engineer on Earth to articulate the concept of renewable generation and storage of electricity.  That eminent Victorian was Sir George Barclay Bruce, who became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the late 1880s. His Presidential Address on 8th November 1887 contains the world’s first recorded reference to the renewable generation and storage of electricity. In 2024, Sir George’s vision came to life in the very building he funded a century and a half earlier: the completed Warksburn Old Church Passivhaus now produces more energy than it consumes over the course of a year.

Alan and Anne have written a short article on his 1887s vision of a renewable energy future, and how Warksburn Old Church turned it into reality nearly one-and-a-half centuries later. The PDF is available here.

The MVHR system is an integral part of the success of the project: The lungs of the house.

• It is centred around the Zehnder ComfoAir Q350 MVHR with ERV heat exchange core. It is controlled with Zehnder’s ComfoConnect app.
• The ducting is rigid galvanised metal ducting (Lindab safe) for the main ducts and 90mm semi-rigid ducting (Frankische Grey) for the branch ducts.
• The intake and exhaust ducting is Zehnder’s ComfoPipe Plus EPP insultated ducting, which avoids condensation and minimises heat loss.
• The external terminals are galvanised roof cowls.
• Internal terminals are Lindab Airy designer valves and a filtered kitchen extract.