NEWS & EVENTS
Local News
The Environmental Business.
Spring is often a time when we all enjoy the environment and Cornwall especially is known for its beautiful landscape. So it makes perfect sense for the county to put sustainability right at the heart of its vision for the future. In addressing climate change a wealth of business opportunities in the county are being generated.
There is evidence that some of the most advanced thinking in the country is taking place in Cornwall with regard to policy, technology and innovation; conditions for sustainable energy business development in Cornwall have never been better and the mechanisms are being put in place to make it happen. The UK's most south westerly county has for some time encouraged investment for companies developing, promoting and manufacturing low and zero carbon technologies.
On the education front, Cornwall is leading the way. The Camborne School of Mines (CSM), part of Exeter University based in Cornwall, created the first undergraduate programme in Renewable Energy in the UK (accredited by the Energy Institute). The programme has been running for the past four-five years and last year saw CSM produce the first graduates in renewable energy in the UK. CSM is one of the world's foremost centres of earth science.
Many people are aware that Cornwall is home to the Eden Project, the educational and environmental charity. The Eden Trust is a unique regeneration project which has transformed part of the Cornish landscape into a global garden demonstrating that sustainability is possible.
Renewable technology is certainly not new to Cornwall:
- It is home to the first wind farm, constructed at Delabole in 1991. (In 1874 a Redruth engineer created the first windmill to produce electricity in the UK)
- It is the UK leader in ground source heat technology; and
- will also be home to the first wave hub of its kind - The Wave Hub aims to create the world's first wave energy farm off the coast of Cornwall by building an electrical 'socket' on the seabed around 10 miles out to sea and connected to the National Grid via an underwater cable. The South West RDA has committed to investing £20m into the Wave Hub. It is expected to be operational by summer 2008.
The county currently has over 160 businesses in the environmental technology sector. The majority are micro-businesses which have identified the gap in the market for the production, design or distribution of new technologies. It has been estimated that over the next six years up to 300 new environmental technology businesses might be created in the county. In order to achieve its aims in sustainable energy the county's political leaders have been learning from European Best Practice initiatives.
An example of Cornish based businesses in this field include GeoScience, a Falmouth company that harness energy. Its annual turnover has grown from £1.6m - £4m last year. Next year, expected to reach £7m and to double every year for the next decade.
Increasingly inward investors are also coming to the county as it is asserts itself as a leading player in the environmental response to climate change. New businesses that have moved to Cornwall to benefit from what the county has to offer in the sector include: Quangoff - creator of a new technology dispensing still and sparkling mineral water using reusable bottles; Microgeneration - supplier of all six renewable technologies and a consultancy firm; Eco-heatpumps - a supplier of ground source heat pumps.
Public Sector
The public sector has an integral role to play in the tackling environmental issues. Cornwall is home to the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership (CSEP) which brings together the expertise of more than 72 organisations to integrate sustainable energy in countrywide strategies and programmes. CSEP's aim is to create a sustainable energy future for Cornwall and the isles of Scilly by actively integrating sustainable energy into public, private and community sector strategies.
CSEP has been highly effective, with other councils and regions across the UK replicating its work. It is responsible for helping the County Council and eight district councils achieve Beacon Status through working in partnership to deliver highly acclaimed sustainable energy projects. One of these, Home Health, has proven to be one of these most successful methodologies in the UK in improving domestic energy efficiency in homes and tackling fuel poverty. The Partnership management team have facilitated many sustainable energy projects creating the demand for greater business capacity in the South West. One such project was the first to retrofit ground source heat pumps (GSHP) into social housing in the UK. Now, hundreds of social housing properties not on the gas network, some built as far back as the 1960s, have GSHPs providing their heat (less than 50 % of Cornwall's residents and businesses have access to gas).
The Partnership has won various national and regional awards, and is a best practice model within Europe.
A Local Area Agreement has been signed on micro-generation. This agreement made with the government has also been proven as a very successful route to increasing the capacity for technologies such as GSHPs and photo-voltaics.
Do you have a business in the environmental sector?
If so, get in touch with Cornwall Pure Business and we will be happy to help you with your move to Cornwall.
Cornwall Pure Business is a service of Cornwall Enterprise