JH MARSHALL

The company established a relationship with the Business Growth team at Wolverhampton City Council early in 2022 attending workshops and then securing capital grant support. Over the past couple of years the company have focused investment on a number of projects to reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprint. These have included the installation of LED lighting, purchasing an electric forklift truck, and moving to a variable speed compressor.

The company established a relationship with the Business Growth team at Wolverhampton City Council early in 2022 attending workshops and then securing capital grant support. Over the past couple of years the company have focused investment on a number of projects to reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprint. These have included the installation of LED lighting, purchasing an electric forklift truck, and moving to a variable speed compressor.

Following discussions with the City Council toward the end of 2023 the business registered for a free Energy Assessment through Pro Enviro as part of the regional Decarbonisation Programme. The Energy Assessment report analysed energy use and source, and concluded that the business could achieve annual financial savings of over £3,775 a year and over 4.7 tonnes of CO2e by implementing one the key recommendations of installing the solar Panels.

Hayley Marshall one of the Directors at J H Marshall's, explained “Once we had the Energy Assessment completed we worked with the Business Growth team at Wolverhampton Council to successfully secure a 50% grant towards the cost of the solar panels. This green investment will help keep the business on track to become carbon neutral by the end of 2027, and specifically reduce annual carbon emissions by over 30%. The investment of the Solar Panel installation will also reduce energy consumption by over 50% on average per month across each year and in the brighter, warmer summer months reduce the monthly electricity bill by up to 75%”.

The ProEnviro report also suggested that in the future the business invests in a duct to allow warm air from the compressor into the workshop during autumn and winter months. In summary, implementing these two recommendations could reduce energy costs & reduce annual carbon emissions by 38%.Hayley believes this will demonstrate to clients, new and old and other stakeholders that JH Marshall's are commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and for the business they would be able to re-direct this cost saving into further up-skilling current staff, as well as potentially leading to up to 2 more full-time staff roles in the next 18 months.

The solar panel investment will allow them to cut energy costs further by installing smart meters, export electric meters and inverters, advanced devices that measures the amount of energy used or not used by the business and sends this information to the energy supplier, the business can then export back to the grid which should help to lower bills and assist their energy efficiency efforts.

Hayley added, “The use of solar panels to generate electricity is becoming increasingly popular, and with good reason. Along with reducing energy bills and being environmentally friendly, the technology has become more affordable and accessible to all businesses. The investment will significantly reduce our monthly overhead costs, a real concern within the UK’s manufacturing sector, allowing us  complete in the international market place. The support of the City Council and Pro-Enviro has been invaluable.