Hundreds of organisations and businesses from all over the country are choosing Good Energy to be their electricity supplier. Ranging from Clipper Windpower in Northumbria, to the Eden Project Café in Cornwall, here are some case studies from companies who have benefitted from going green.

Eden’s eco-café

Launched in February, the Eden Project café brings a little bit of Eden to St. Austell town centre, and has been built with the environment firmly in mind. Not only does it serve the delicious, locally and ethically sourced food you would expect, it’s also launched an innovative produce swap scheme. So if you’ve got a glut of courgettes, say, you can bring them along and the café will pay you the wholesale price.

With such an emphasis on homegrown produce, Good Energy’s homegrown electricity was a natural fit. As well as choosing our 100% renewable electricity tariff, the café has installed both solar pv and solar thermal for primary water heating; air source heat pumps for under-floor heating; and a host of other sustainable features.

Matt Hastings, Eden Project energy manager, explained their philosophy: “As a community café, our plan is to demonstrate a low-carbon business in action. Not in a preachy way, but in terms of showing people what might work well in the future that they can borrow and apply to their own lives.”

Much more than a good place to eat, the Eden Project café also provides a venue for live music and theatre, exhibitions, and community meetings. Well worth checking out if you’re going to be in Cornwall this Easter.

Baking organic bread with ethical energy

Artisan Bread Organic, based in Kent, have been baking their delicious organic, biodynamic, yeast-free bread for almost 10 years. Their range of breads extends from their best-selling rye to the more unusual award-winning pea bread, and includes gluten-free, salt-free and sugar-free varieties all made from freshly-milled flour.

Their website even has a section which recommends different breads for different blood groups. “We take a holistic approach to our bread. It’s not just about how you make it, it’s just as important to us what happens in people’s bodies after they’ve eaten our bread,” explains Ingrid Eissfeldt, Director.

This holistic approach extends to the environment too – their delivery vans run on biodiesel; they have a stringent reuse and recycling policy; and they’ve chosen a 100% renewable electricity supply from Good Energy.

Artisan Bread’s eco-credentials are about to get even better as they have just invested in a new, more efficient electric oven, which provides indirect heat via a heat transfer system, and will enable them to bake around a third more bread while using 20% less energy. Ingrid says, “As an ecological company we researched all the options, including biomass, and decided that an eco-efficient electric oven running on green energy would be the best.”

Green printing in Bristol

Apple Colour, the Bristol-based printing company, switched to Good Energy about eight years ago as part of its overall sustainability strategy and has never looked back. According to Richard Bracey from Apple, buying renewable energy was a natural progression for the company, which prides itself on its environmental credentials.

“Customers are naturally keen to question what we are doing to minimise environmental damage and our attention to the environmental impact of our work has helped us to win more printing contracts. Buying renewable power fits into our spectrum of environmentally-friendly actions and sets us apart from our competitors,” Richard said.

 “It was very easy to switch suppliers and the move to renewable electricity makes sense for a business like Apple which takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously.  We were the first printing company in the area to attain ISO 14001 accreditation and we also use FSC-certified products.”

Apple Colour, has worked out that it is saving around 25,846 kg of carbon emissions each year just through purchasing 100% renewable electricity from Good Energy.

Using wind energy to produce more wind energy

With the UK’s wind turbine manufacturing industry having had more than its share of problems in the recent past, it was great news when US firm Clipper Windpower announced it would be occupying a new factory near Newcastle to make blades for the world’s largest offshore wind turbines.

Construction of the factory started in January 2010 and will be completed by the end of March 2011. But the best bit is that the factory is itself being powered by Good Energy – using our 100% renewable electricity tariff to help generate more 100% renewable electricity.

Clipper’s UK managing director, David Still, explains why Good Energy was the natural choice as energy supplier: “Good Energy is unique – not only is it the UK’s only electricity supplier with a 100% renewable fuel mix, but 80% of that electricity is generated by the wind. We both share a common goal of growing the amount of wind energy generated in the UK. Choosing Good Energy feels like we are completing a virtuous circle.”

Eventually Clipper’s ‘Britannia’ turbines will be used in offshore wind farm developments in the seas around the UK – helping the country on the pathway to a 100% renewable future. Britannia rules the waves!