A Glasgow-based coffee company is running on more than caffeine after Absolute Solar and Wind installed a 10kW solar system.
Family-run Matthew Algie, thought to be one of the first coffee companies in the UK to power its production by solar energy, will now save ~80 tonnes of carbon emissions over the next 25 years.
Matthew Algie’s Technical Director, Ewan Reid, said: “Sustaining the environment is at the heart of our operation. We launched the UK’s first Fairtrade espresso back in 1997, so it makes sense that we are one of the first to embrace the solar power revolution.”
The company also worked on a research project with the Sustainable Food & Drink programme at Glasgow Caledonian University to come up with ideas of how to cut its carbon emissions.
“Although we had invested in sustainable technologies at our Glasgow site, the carbon footprint confirmed that electricity remained one of the largest contributors to CO2 emissions in our operation. Finding an on-site sustainable generation solution was a simple way of reducing some of these emissions and fortunately the site was well suited to a solar installation.
“Reducing our carbon footprint is of great importance to us and having a system installed by Absolute means we are going someway to readdressing the balance.
“This is just one of the many ways in which we are looking to become more sustainable. Even the coffee chaff, which comes off the coffee bean, is used to generate electricity by our waste contractors’ anaerobic digestion site,” Reid continued.
Mark Newall, Managing Director of Absolute Solar and Wind, said: “It is very refreshing to work with forward-thinking, environmentally conscious companies such as Matthew Algie – and I’m not just talking about their coffee. Embracing renewable energy will allow them to achieve their sustainability goals for the next 25 years.
“Matthew Algie’s unique products have always set a trend amongst coffee companies and I am sure that will be no different when it comes to renewable energy.”
