Lanchester Wine – Renewable energy and heat generation
COMPANY:
LANCHESTER WINES – UK
Lanchester Wines is one of the UK’s leading supplier of quality wines and spirits to the trade, successfully operating and innovating across every element of UK wine import and export.
There are many ways to approach a sustainability or carbon footprint strategy and much is dependent on the activities of that company. The Lanchester Group runs a commercial sustainability strategy, which helps us prioritise the biggest impact projects which also make financial sense.
ABSTRACT:
We are a sustainable wine business and believe it’s our duty to preserve our planet, which is why we’ve invested £8m in developing clean, renewable energy and heat generation for our offices and warehouses which greatly reduces our business’ carbon footprint.
As a business, we continue to make choices about our long-term sustainability, which go above and beyond both legislation and common practice. Our first wind turbine project started in 2011/2012, followed by the installation of solar panels and ongoing initiatives to our buildings, including additional insulation and LED lighting, which uses only 20% of the electricity used in conventional lighting.
SUSTAINABLE TARGET:
Being a sustainable wine business is very important to us, which is why we’ve invested heavily in renewable energy and heat generation.
PARTNERS: na
REASON WHY/ MOTIVATION:
We believe being carbon neutral is just the beginning.
DESCRIPTION AND STRATEGIES:
Our operations on the Greencroft Estate are powered by three wind turbines which produce around 5,500,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) of clean, renewable electricity per year. We presently use around 42% of this electricity with the remaining – enough to power x800 three-bedroom homes – feeding into the national grid, via the company’s on-site substations, for use locally.
A 41 kW solar array on the roof of our sister company, Lanchester Wine’s office complex, is calculated to produce enough clean electricity to cover day-to-day use.
Pioneering world changing technology
For our latest endeavour we are pioneering world-changing heat pump technology using water from disused mine workings at our warehouses in Gateshead. Working with organizations including The Coal Authority, Environment Agency and numerous academics, we are the first business in the UK to draw heat from disused coal mines – we have capability to draw over 110 litres of water a second.
geothermal energy from mineworkings
ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR:
To date, our sustainability practices at the Greencroft Estate have:
- saved close to 11,750 tonnes of Carbon
- generated enough clean energy to power 60,200 houses
LESSONS LEARNED:
As a privately owned, family business we are in a largely unique position which enables us to experiment and take risks in order to find new solutions, and we want others to emulate our successes – we believe what is good for the environment is good for us all.
NEXT STEPS
Our aspiration is to become a thought leader and sharer of best practice.
Looking to the Future
Our business continues to grow and our sister company, Greencroft Bottling, has started work on its new development – Greencroft Two. When building is complete, Greencroft Two will become the world’s most sustainable wine bottling facility, powered entirely by renewable wind and solar power – and heated with wine!
You can see the site in our drone footage online and find out more about the project at www.greencroftbottling.com/greencroft-two
