Holyrood Mennonite Church was hoping one of their furnaces would last until they could afford a replacement, but it wasn’t meant to be. The 50-year-old unit that heated their sanctuary failed in January— typically the coldest month of the year in Edmonton — forcing the congregation of about 40 to hold services in the church basement for a month.
Sealing drafty cracks in a building envelope might not seem like an ambitious decarbonization project, but when your large brick church is 100 years old, all those cracks and gaps can add up to significant energy loss.