For many businesses wishing to reduce carbon and energy costs, selecting the best and most appropriate technology might be daunting, as it will inevitably involve a capital investment.
After the demand-side has been dealt with (which of course is the first step), solar PV is generally the most obvious and familiar technology solution, but how far will that actually take you?
Recently, we were tasked with supporting a family run hotel in North Wales. The owner was keen to reduce carbon and energy costs, and had come to the conclusion, quite reasonably, that a solar PV array on an outbuilding, and solar thermal panels on part of the hotel roof would be the best solutions, and would deliver significant carbon savings.
The financial case for solar PV was strong, with useful annual cost savings and a short payback period, around four years. However, in the context of the hotel’s overall carbon footprint, the impact was rather modest – around 3% – which disappointed the owner somewhat.
Why? Although the annual cost of heating and of power were comparable, the carbon footprint of the LPG based heating far outweighed that of the power consumption. To further compound it, we also analysed the carbon impact of the supply chain, and found that the meals where the third largest carbon contributor.
Would solar thermal panels help? Sadly not. The reduction in overall heat energy useage of each panel would have been 0.5%.
Now, we’re not saying that solar PV is not worth considering when addressing business carbon emissions, far from it, it almost always is when designed and sized correctly, and the financial returns can be very strong.
What this example shows is that using renewable energy technology to reduce carbon emissions requires a thorough understanding of all the emissions across all the businesses activities.
Ewan Bent, 2 Nov 22