Daniel Prince describes his recent trip around the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness.
It was time to get up to Moray, Ross and Caithness once more to support churches in their Net Zero efforts. Bishop Mark had suggested I include St Peter and the Holy Rood in Thurso and the Crask Inn, so it would be a big journey across the diocese with little in the way of public transport connections. I also planned visits to St Andrews in Fortrose, St Margaret of Scotland in Aberlour, St Michael and All Angels in Inverness and St Finbarr in Dornoch.
I like to make any journey as sustainable as possible. In this instance walking or cycling was impractical and public transport was too irregular to be viable.
On this occasion, using my EV car was as high up the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy as I could go. Nevertheless, it was with some trepidation that I worked out a route to visit six charges, discuss their aspirations for Net Zero and keep the car sufficiently charged for the journey up to Thurso and back down to Edinburgh (via the second most remote inn on mainland Britain).
Over the three days I travelled 668 miles. The car worked well as I was able to charge it overnight, while stopping for breaks or during meetings. There were no moments of undue stress, or additional grey hairs, thanks to some pre-planning and having a few second choices in case any charging stations didn’t work. All that said, the charging infrastructure in the Highlands has plenty of room for improvement and the Scottish Episcopal Church has been pushing for those improvements.
Every congregation I met was open to addressing Net Zero and I hope to help them progress their Net Zero journeys in the coming months. I leant about their challenges and answered their questions, encouraging people to take stock of the situation as their first step towards Net Zero.
The barriers people face are universal: (1) where will the money come from (2) how do we start and (3) what is sensible to prioritise? Fortunately, my role as Clean Energy Advisor is to help charges get to grips with these questions and to support them as they make progress.
Some reflections from my journey
My journey also offered some time for reflection. Here are some of the things that emerged.
- EVs are constantly improving and so is the charging network. With a careful choice of vehicle an EV is now practical anywhere in the UK. Our EV is workable but not ideal. There are affordable options with better range that I would happily use all year round were I to replace it.
- The Net Zero Team can help everyone, there’s always something that we can do in every charge to move a bit closer to Net Zero.
- It may feel like everything has to be done now. The truth is that there is much to understand and consider. It is far better to take time to make a considered plan that will support the needs of your church buildings.
- And finally, I’m convinced that with hope and pragmatism we can do this and make the necessary changes to achieve Net Zero and inspire others.
Daniel Prince, Clean Energy Advisor
