We have some exciting environmental news to share with you!
We have recently installed 65 PV Solar Panels on the roof of our Castlebar office!
Here at Hastings Insurance, we are constantly aware of our carbon footprint. We are dedicated to monitoring our energy consumption and always look to decrease any unnecessary usage, where it is within our power to do so. Solar panels gives us an alternative solution to grid consumption. It allows us to generate clean renewable energy. This is good for the environment, our climate and good for us! By generating our electricity on-site, we will be able to lower our carbon foot print. While also reducing our energy bills.
Let’s Look at Some Facts and Figures
It’s estimated that over the course of a year, our solar panels will produce just under 20,000 kWh of energy. This will allow us to reduce our carbon footprint by 7 tonne on an annual basis. This is the equivalent of planting 322 trees*.
When we hit the summer months, we predict our Castlebar office will be completely self-sufficient. In other words, we will be producing more electricity from our solar panels than we are using.
Given the early benefits we are seeing, we are already planning to increase the number of solar panels we have in Castlebar and explore whether there is opportunity to extend to other offices in the future.
We are extremely proud to have made this change in our business and we will continue to look at other ways where we can lower our greenhouse emissions!
Did You Know
Did you know, we also off set our carbon by planting trees each year with our partners, Catch My Carbon? Catch My Carbon are a Mayo based company that help businesses offset their carbon footprint by planting trees in the West of Ireland. For 2024, we will be planting 130 trees in partnership with Catch My Carbon. This will offset some of our 2023 carbon emissions. To find out more about Catch My Carbon, you can visit their website here.
Top Tip
If you have recently installed Solar Panels in your home or business, it is important to check your level of insurance cover. You may need to review your sums insured to ensure that you are adequately insured in the event of a claim.
For any questions relating to your level of solar panel cover call us on 0818 911 222.
Or you can request a call back here.
You can also drop into one of our 7 offices across Mayo, Galway and Sligo.
*It is estimated that planting 322 trees will offset 7 tonne of carbon. This estimation is based on the assumption that “a single tree can offset anywhere between 21.77 kg CO2/tree to 31.5 kg CO2/tree per year. In order to offset 1 tonne of CO2, you would need between 31-46 trees” (Tariff, 2022).
