How green have we been?
Here at Solarcentury, tucked in behind Waterloo station, we may not have the flashiest high-spec green building in the world, but we still try to see the bigger picture when it comes to the environment. We know there's only so much we can put our planet through, so in the early days we set up ten working principles to keep us in check, one of which is 'Environmental':
We strive in company practice for the highest environmental goals. We actively seek suppliers who share these goals. We encourage our clients similarly. As a team, we aim to live the life with minimal impact on our surroundings.
So, ten years on, we needed to know if we were up to spec and decided to go for the UK's Iso 14001 accreditation and the highly respected European EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) at the same time!
EMAS is pretty strict and rewards organisations that go beyond minimum legal compliance and continually improve their environmental performance. As part of this, we've also committed to making all our 'green info' public. So, there's no hiding now!
Hayley Whitman - Solarcentury EMAS coordinator
The main thing we had to look at was the energy and flow of bits and bobs in our industry - namely the production of photovoltaic laminates, shipping of solar panels from abroad and the logistics and travel required to run our business and deliver solar installations. All rather energy intensive. The main environmental impact of photovoltaics stems from the production of photovoltaic laminates over which we have little control. We do however aim to source these from the most scrupulous companies and recently questioned one of our suppliers over the dumping of nasty toxic waste by one of their suppliers. The offending company has been removed from our supplier's list of suppliers.
And, the great news is we've passed the test. Well, both actually (although we don't wish to boast!) and are now Iso 14001 AND EMAS accredited.
We'll be setting more targets in October this year. And our 'Environmental Management System' will be reviewed and tweaked to make sure we're continuously improving our performance.
Our main objectives are:
1. To achieve a reduction in resource usage (power and water) per person by April 09
2. To monitor the entire CO2 emissions from all company activities for six months, then set a target for improvement per person by April 09
3. To achieve a reduction in waste sent to landfill on 2007 figures. 2007 figures are 519 bags to landfill.
4. To improve our score for eco-efficiency in Accounting and Purchasing to between 70 and 90 per cent (up from 40%).
So, we're pretty chuffed, and wanted to tell you about it as we're committing to get better and better as we grow. And now you can keep an eye on us and see if we actually manage it. We're sure this is the right thing to be doing as it will help our performance as a business and the environment at the same time.
Find out more about EMAS and Iso14001.
If you're confused, or just want a chat about how to get started, please contact us.