Going green at Skiddle HQ

Here’s a quick insight into how we’re helping the environment by lowering our carbon footprint at Skiddle HQ…

Renewable Energy at Skiddle

As part of our new office build, we needed a new heating system to replace the current electric powered system. Being in a rural area with no gas supply, we had limited options – but we were sure of one thing – we wanted to have the lowest environmental impact for heating our offices. Renewable energy was therefore a option we were keen to explore.

Solar powered Skiddle!

We’ve recently installed a 14kW photovoltaic solar array on our roof, with the help of EEC Solar in Lancashire. Comprising of around 50 solar panels, these capture the sun’s energy during sunlight hours and converts it to electricity. On days when the office isn’t open, we also feed the excess electricity back into the grid. Whilst we can’t yet power our entire office from solar energy, it helps to reduce our impact.

Air Source Heat Pumps

After some lengthy chats and site visits with Husky Heat Pumps, a plan was established to install Air Source Heat Pumps to power our hot water and heating. This technology is capable of up to 415% energy efficiency – meaning they generate more energy output than they consume, For every 1KW of mains electricity we use, we generate up to 4.15Kw in heat (as opposed to around 0.85Kw for a gas boiler). The heating system for our entire building has been designed around this for maximum efficiency, including underfloor heating in our main office space. Even our staff shower is heated by renewable energy!

We also ripped out the aging air conditioning, and replaced it with large automated Velux windows, which are programmed to ventilate the offices naturally when warm, whilst letting in solar energy to help heat the spaces when cooler.

Other green incentives

We’ve been pushing our barcoded entry system for events across the UK, which means we now post 50% less tickets than 2 years ago. This reduces on print and packaging, as well as the carbon footprint of delivering tickets by post. Instead our tickets are delivered by email to our customers. We’re still working on improving this even further, by eliminated the need to print your ticket for redemption, and scanning smart phones instead.

We have recently started a bike-to-work scheme, to help our staff reach the office without driving, and for those staff who have hybrid or electric cars, we have a charging point (powered by Solar!)