Solar panels are part of Norwich firm’s sustainability plan.
Every business can play its part in combating climate change, as Future 50 member Archive-Vault has shown, fitting solar panels to its Norwich HQ.
“The plan was always to be energy efficient when we built the building,” says director Zoe Pitcher. "The lighting is all LED and on motion sensors to avoid lights being left on all day wasting energy.”
The document-storage specialists’ building uses an efficient, environmentally friendly air-source heat pump to warm the underfloor heating and the hot water – and this is now powered by the solar panels.
“It's a comfortable working environment - you haven't got that extreme of hot and cold,” explains office manager Emily Pitcher. “As it's a new building, it's designed to be more of a constant temperature.”
Invaluable documents are delivered daily across East Anglia, playing a crucial part in their client’s daily operations. “The next initiative is to get an electric van and install an electric-vehicle charging point,” explains Zoe.
Archive-Vault secured a grant to help install the new solar panels, from BEE Anglia – Business Energy Efficiency Anglia, which is delivered by Suffolk County Council, Norfolk County Council, Groundwork and NWES (Norfolk and Waveney Enterprise Services).
“We generate more solar power than we currently need during the day, anything surplus is sent back to the grid” says Zoe. "We plan to install batteries in the future so we can store what we generate and use it at night.”
“It’s definitely the way the world is going,” says Emily. “It’s really positive that we’re (Archive-Vault) moving in the right direction and doing our best to be environmentally responsible.”
For more information, see www.archive-vault.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here