East Green Energy, a small but rapidly expanding Suffolk company, is leading the way in helping the county towards its goal of becoming the country’s greenest county.
Established in early 2006 by former Suffolk pig farmer Robbie Gawthrop, East Green Energy supply and install a range of quality renewable energy systems, including Solar Hot Water Systems, Rainwater Harvesters, Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps.
So how did a former pig farmer from Kelsale get in on the environment act? Woodbridge School educated Robbie, 44, takes up the story. “My family had been pig farmers in East Suffolk for generations. In the early 1990s, pig farming was generally becoming more and more uneconomic. With a growing family to support, we decided to convert several of our farm buildings into holiday cottages.”
Robbie has always been a “hands-on” type of man. Having learned the rudiments of the building trade whilst repairing buildings around the farm, he took on the holiday cottage project almost single-handedly. At the same time he was also running an established property maintenance company, East Green Maintenance. Whilst undertaking building work for a friend and neighbour, William Kendall - of Covent Garden Soup Company and Green & Black’s organic chocolate fame - he was asked to consider the use of ground source heat pumps, rain harvesters and solar hot water systems, not purely for environmental reasons but also to investigate the claims that all these systems can supply you with cheaper energy solutions.
“It was a life changing moment” Robbie explains “Coming from farming stock, I have always been interested in the environment… but some of these systems can really be of financial benefit too. For example, we calculate that our Apricus Solar Hot Water System can generate up to 70% of a household’s total hot water requirement over a year.
That could represent a massive saving on your household fuel bills.”
Robbie admits that there has been a lot of confusion in the market place regarding green energy issues over recent years. “There have been a number of products around that simply failed to deliver both in terms of practicality and financially. Having thoroughly researched the market, we can now advise our customers of the most suitable systems for them financially.”
Robbie has made it a priority to get the backing of key trade bodies in his quest to convert a suspicious public into the merits of renewable energy. As well as being an approved supplier to Suffolk Coastal District Council, East Green Energy are also members of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme, Solar Trade Association and working with SEAL (Suffolk Energy Action Link) CRED (The Carbon Reduction Programme) and The Energy Savings Trust, amongst others.
Naturally he has also embraced the whole “green energy philosophy”, currently undertaking a feasability study to convert his fossil fuel dependent holiday cottages from oil fired heating to Biomass and already heating a swimming pool via an efficient air source heat pump.
“It really is the best of both worlds”, continues Robbie. “Being able to actually do something positive about our wonderful environment and at the same time saving money leaves me with a really warm kind of feeling”
Hopefully the same sort of warm feeling you could get from an East Green green energy solution!
For more information contact:
Robbie Gawthrop
East Green Energy, East Green Farm, Kelsale, Suffolk IP17 2PH
Telephone: 01728 602315
www.eastgreen.co.uk