Our Solar Installation – Solar Energy & Sustainability
Solar Energy & Net Zero
The UK is committed to reaching net zero by 2050. This means that the total greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere, with the aim of limiting global warming and resultant climate.
UBU Environmental are consistently planning and implementing ways to make our company more sustainable. For companies who operate in transport and logistics, we have been looking at other areas where we as a business can help to meet these targets by continuous review of our processes and resources.
One area of particular interest to us was our energy use and how solar energy could help us to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gases, which is critical to protecting ecosystems, wildlife, and humans. In the current global situation, fossil fuel resources have peaked, whilst solar energy is predicted to be the forerunner of energy generation in the near future.
One of the major obstacles in reaching Net Zero are ‘greenhouse gas emissions’. In 2019, there was a 1% decrease in CO2 emissions from the power industry; that figure dropped by 7% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis, thus indicating a drop in coal-fired energy generation that was being pressured by decreasing energy needs and the shift away from fossil fuels towards renewables.
As a result, in 2020, the energy industry was expected to generate 13 Gt CO2, representing around 40% of the total world energy sector emissions related to CO2. The annual electricity generation stepped back to pre-crisis levels by 2021, although due to a changing ‘fuel mix’, the CO2 emissions in the power sector is expected to grow a small amount before remaining fairly stable until 2030.
Our Solar Installation
After some deliberation and a lot of consultation, UBU chose to install 255 Tier 1 solar panels across 5 of our site buildings at our depot in Walkden. The advantages of solar energy are, a clean and renewable energy source that is plentiful, has cheaper costs, less maintenance and has the potential to be more ‘environmentally’ friendly. This is also an excellent business commitment to reduce our carbon footprint.
It’s early days for us to give details of how the panels are performing but stay tuned for an upcoming blog where we will show you the data on how much of a sustainability difference the solar panels are making! At UBU Environmental we are consistently planning and implementing ways to make our company more sustainable.
To keep updated on our fantastic journey please keep an eye on our website, blogs and socials.