LOS ANGELES – September 23, 2010 – As part of its ongoing sustainability and land stewardship efforts, Giumarra Vineyards Corporation has contracted for the installation of a photovoltaic solar and co-generation facility adjacent to its main packing facility in Bakersfield, Calif. the company said on Tuesday.
Giumarra has partnered with California-based HelioPower, an industry leading solar engineering company for the project. The firm has completed large-scale projects worldwide and its North American clients include Safeway and The Scripps Institute of Oceanography. HelioPower is also a member of the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Giumarra solar system will offset the majority of the company’s annual electricity needs for its processing facility, and will offset more than 12,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the next 20 years.
“The nature of our business requires a tremendous amount of refrigerated transportation for distributing fresh produce around the world, so anything we can do to help improve our carbon footprint while operating a more efficient business is not only good for us, but good for our customers and the community, as well,” says fourth generation grower and shipper John Giumarra III.
The solar installation is the first step of a larger energy savings initiative at Giumarra Vineyards that will incorporate energy-efficient technologies including solar electricity, solar thermal, and lighting efficiencies to further reduce electricity consumption.
Additional land at Giumarra Vineyards has been allocated for these future solar expansion plans. “When we analyzed the complexities of this type of hybrid system over a year ago we came to the conclusion that energy reduction, as well as energy production, were the best means toward our longer term energy goals,” says Giumarra. “The cheapest energy you can buy is the energy you don’t use so we are looking at this project as the first phase of a multi-step process.” He added jokingly, “we are not at the ‘Bloom Box’ level of technology yet, but hopefully when the fifth generation joins the business, we will have achieved that type of efficiency.”
Source: The Guimarra Companies