Churches, like other buildings in the institutional sector, are continually under pressure to save energy and money, and they oftentimes have additional pressures stemming from a lack of manpower. So they need solutions for saving time, as well. Many of these challenges are being handled today with the utilization of smart technology.
The latest trends in smart technology for churches are all about automating formerly manual tasks and collecting data to make more informed and efficient decisions on how to operate a church building and serve its congregation better.
This could be anything from programmable thermostats to security system controls that can be controlled by an app, to smart features that control music and lighting.
Lighten up
Smart lighting controls allow for an easy transition from one lighting mood to another with a simple tap of a push button on a wall or an app.
LED and connected lighting systems offer the potential to increase energy and cost savings, while elevating architectural design and beauty for a more engaging atmosphere in a church.
“Houses of worship are increasingly considering connected LED lighting solutions and wireless/digital lighting controls, so they can have the flexibility to create the right illumination experience for any need in/outside of their facility,” says Michael Amato, sales specialist of connected lighting systems for Signify. “This technology delivers energy-efficient, mood-enhancing lighting scenes. For example, churches can trigger the lighting to draw attention to the [pastor] or create atmosphere shifts once the [worship band] begins.”
These solutions not only create memorable experiences for churchgoers, but they allow churches to lower their energy consumption and operational costs.
“Churches can manage and reduce their energy use with features like daylight harvesting and by automatically switching off their lighting in areas that are not being used,” Amato says. “Static, one-level lighting isn’t enough to support the evolving functions of church [spaces]. Connected lighting systems and wireless/digital lighting controls enable facilities to have the flexibility they need to create the right environment and ambiance for any activity.”
Control temperature
With such a large gathering of people, keeping the temperature at a comfortable level is just as important as the lighting. Smart thermostats can monitor the temperature and humidity in the room, and they can also monitor different areas at once and adjust each individual room based on its own needs—cooling rooms down in the winter when no one is occupying them to save power, for example. And then heating the room up as soon as someone enters.
While there are several “smart” thermostats on the market for churches to use, the majority of them are residential solutions with limited control on multiple types of equipment, though.
Jerry Drew, CEO of Network Thermostat, notes that these residential solutions seem to be more centered around home automation, voice control, and other features that are fun to use at home, but really don’t deliver much of a benefit to churches.
“The general trend is still to get connected with the HVAC controls to manage comfort and energy,” he says. “The NetX thermostat is a stand-alone device, complete with a built-in web server, so if the church’s network has issues the thermostat continues to operate. This gives peace of mind and a more robust solution for churches.”
His company also offers long-range wireless sensors that allow for easy installation without running new cabling, as well as secondary function monitoring and alerting.
“While most thermostats just do temperature, and few handle humidity control, Network Thermostat’s commercial remote sensors (both wired and wireless) have the ability to monitor supply temperatures, send alerts for walk-in freezers and refrigerator issues, in addition to filter-change reminders,” Drew says. “We have saved many churches thousands of dollars from spoiled food issues alone.”
Clearing the air
Having gone through a pandemic in the past 18 months, UV-C air cleaning is becoming a hot topic for churches. Drew notes that Network Thermostat has shifted its thoughts to the health of buildings and occupants.
“NetX has patent-pending technology that integrates control of UV-C cleaning products which can increase their life by up to 450 percent,” he says. “The NetX-Cloud suite gives churches multi-user, multi-level management access to the system, allowing partitioning to job responsibilities assigned, scheduling, IT support, facilities management, etc.”
Attendance counters
Some of the megachurches have adopted automated attendance-counting systems to streamline the process of counting, collecting, and reporting how many people are in attendance at a given service.
“The system uses an intelligent people-counting sensor mounted above the entrance to the sanctuary to count people entering and exiting,” says Jessica Lipply, marketing coordinator for SenSource Inc., which offers ceiling-mounted 3D stereo video people counting sensors. “The cloud-based software then takes a snapshot of the max number in attendance. Church administrators can easily report on church attendance, make historical comparisons, and compare multiple campuses.”
This allows ushers and volunteers to better serve the congregation, rather than hand-tally, and also allows the church to be better prepared for predicted high or low attendance with appropriate staff and volunteer levels and lessen waste of prepared perishable items such as communion or café items.
Some of the churches who use the product include the Grace Family Church in Tampa, Florida, and Crossroads Church in Cincinnati.
Security smarts
Unfortunately, churches can be the target of theft and vandalism, which is why smart automation can provide comfort in knowing there is a watching eye waiting to alert if an intruder enters the property.
Tavares Chestnut, an Atlanta-based electrician who specializes in smart automation, notes security cameras watching the surrounding area and motion sensor lights that activate once the perimeter is compromised also provide great security controls.
“In fact, with some smart systems, once illegal entry is made, lights inside the building will flash, alarms will sound off alerting the surrounding area, and the proper authorities will be called and the caretaker of the church will be notified,” he says.
One of the greatest advantages of any smart device is control, and being able to control all of one’s devices from one interface eliminates both time and confusion when using them.
“You can even program your devices to operate on their own after certain conditions are met,” Chestnut says. “Depending on how you set up your system you can create a very energy-efficient system.”
