In an effort to improve our energy efficiency and reduce our businesses carbon footprint we have installed solar panels on our office roof.
The system is a Thermomax Evacuated 50 Tube Solar System. We have installed a new hot water cylinder next to the current one. This is powered by the solar system and should heat the water to the correct temperature between April and September meaning we will not be using gas to heat our water. The rest of the year the solar system will heat the water to a certain temperature depending on daylight hours and will then feed the pre-heated water into our existing gas cylinder to reach the required temperature, meaning the gas consumption will still drop during these months.
How eco-friendly is this?
Each square meter of solar panel produces about 750kWh of power per year. In terms of carbon savings, our system will save around 1.6 tonnes of Co2 per year. Over the design lifetime of the panels - 25 years - this equates to 40 tonnes. As a way marker, the average person in the UK is responsible for about 6 tonnes of Co2 per year. One tonne of Co2 would look like a balloon 10 metres in diameter.
Find out whether your business could benefit from solar power
To help other eco-minded businesses reduce carbon emissions we’re going to track the progress of our solar panels over the coming months to see how beneficial solar power can be for small to medium sized businesses in the UK. So if your business is thinking of ways to become more eco-friendly and energy efficient subscribe to Go Green for a real life case study of solar power in action.
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