It’s no secret that here in the north of Scotland, sunshine isn’t always our greatest natural asset. However, that hasn’t stopped us from investing in a broad-spectrum solar energy installation across our serviced offices in an effort to do our part to combat climate chaos.
According to Ofgem, the largest source of UK greenhouse gas emissions is from electricity production. This is because most of the UK’s electricity is produced from burning fossil fuels, mainly natural gas (42% in 2019). Concurrently, the Scottish Government aims to generate 50% of Scotland’s overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.
Clearly, there is an urgent demand for good corporate citizens to step up and play their part in this global movement.
To reduce our own carbon footprint and help Scotland accelerate towards this goal, we have installed new solar panels across our serviced office centres.
Solar panels or solar photovoltaics capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity you can use in your home or office. Solar is a renewable source of energy and can cut your electricity bills and drastically lower your carbon footprint.
Gairland partnered with AES Solar for the job, an excellent opportunity to create work for a local business during the pandemic.
Our new solar sites include:
- Park House Business Centre: A set of premium serviced offices in a restored Georgian manor located in the heart of Elgin.
- Caledonian House: Ten design-led serviced office spaces in Elgin, with original features.
- Speyside Business Centre: Located in Fochabers’ village, makes for an inspiring and modern serviced countryside workplace.
Our new solar arrays’ environmental impact is the equivalent of 22 tonnes of Co2 removed from the atmosphere every year, which has the same effect as planting over 100 trees a year. Simply put, the impact of electricity generated from solar panels has nowhere near the impact of electricity generated from gas or coal in terms of carbon emissions.
Fortunately, for those of us living in Scotland (where the sun doesn’t always shine) solar panels still work on cloudy days – although less electricity is generated. That means our commercial offices can switch seamlessly between electricity generated from our solar panels to the National Grid supply so work can continue no matter the weather. When the sun finally does appear, the Smart Export Guarantee scheme means we can be paid for any excess renewable energy that we export back to the National Grid, so nothing is wasted.