Greene King is trialling the industry’s first solar pergola and early indications suggest that it is a sustainable way to heat outdoor areas while reducing the pub’s carbon footprint.
The test, with Ock n Dough, a Hungry Horse pub in Northamptonshire, and UK-based Solar Polar, uses a 2.4m high solar pergola on a test site of 2.5m x 2.5m wide, and it has found that annual savings could be around 300 kW/hr electricity and 70 kg of carbon a year.
Greene King say that work is now underway to try retro-fitting the solar heating equipment to existing garden structures while this initial trial is monitored. These could be larger structures than the trial pergola, capturing more solar power and reducing the carbon footprint even further.
Paul Garland, Greene King’s property director said, “Seeing this solar pergola in place and enjoyed by our pub customers is really pleasing. We are working hard with a whole host of businesses and new and emerging technology to decarbonise our pubs and this is not always very visible for our customers. Here, we are tapping into a natural resource and customers can see and feel its benefit in action while at the same time it helps to reduce our carbon footprint.
“We have many lovely beer gardens and we know people like al fresco eating and drinking but the British weather isn’t always favourable. This is a promising and bright start for a sustainable outdoor heating solution.”
General Manager at the Ock n Dough, Matthew Gist added: “The feedback from customers has been really good. The novelty of it is a good talking point and they like the fact that it warms them up with natural solar power.”