Sustainable.

Powered by Sunshine

We have been operating with the benefit of solar power since moving to our new 15,000 ft2 HQ building in August 2021. The solar arrays generate around 50kW during daylight hours which is enough to take care of a large part of the building’s routine electrical energy requirements during spring, most of the British summer, autumn, and winter.

Expanding on our drive to operate sustainably, we have also taken measures to reduce that routine consumption; all the lighting in the building uses LEDs for example, including the conference suites and our brand-new broadcast studio. We also employ presence detectors which automatically turn the lights off when movement isn’t detected in all the main office areas, meeting rooms, stairwells, cafeteria etc. Added to that, all our external servers that host our websites, apps and the V-Ex platform are UK based and guaranteed carbon neutral. 

We are working towards an official ISO energy efficiency audit and are collecting all the data we need to benchmark our energy usage. Like all commercial businesses there are areas for improvement, which include the air conditioning systems we use on very hot days and the gas heating we use on very cold days. We strive to continuously optimise and reduce energy usage across all areas by implementing new technologies and processes.

This includes the planned installation of a new building management system (BMS) which will allow us to record and monitor the energy use of the entire building, providing much better control over how and when various devices and systems are used. We will also be installing a ventilation system that will use air from outdoors to cool the servers in place of air con when ambient temperatures are suitable.

The path to true sustainability is an important one and we as a business are committed to working towards this goal, doing everything that is practical and economically viable to get us there. If we keep working at it, eventually we could be fully powered by today’s available renewables and not the energy that was locked up in fossil fuels millions of years ago!

If you have any questions about our ‘Powered by Sunshine’ initiative, or any other aspect of our sustainability goals, please get in-touch.