AHS Energy

Turning over an Old Leaf

For many years AHS has been associated with its maple leaf logo, and a darn fine logo it is. 

 

But AHS has changed and it has grown, and we felt it was time to present an image that better reflected the nature (!) of the business, and provided a link between our various activities.

 

Not for AHS, the simple reversing of colours, as BP famously did some years ago with their green on yellow/yellow on green effort.  We have had a radical rethink, and we are delighted with the result.

 

So here it is – the new AHS logo.   

We think it says a lot about what AHS stands for, reflecting our intimate involvement with wood products – whether it be bark or compost for landscaping, or woodchip for renewable energy. 

 

It says we care about sustainable woodland management, which is why AHS has been awarded Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, and will soon have the prestigious ISO 14001 accreditation.  It says we are here to stay, and we are looking to continue to grow.  After all, if we don’t look after the careful sourcing of our products, there won’t be anything left to source.

 

We hope you like it.

Edward Wilkinson is presenting at Smart Energy '09

AHS Energy Head of Marketing, Ed Wilkinson, is to present at the forthcoming Smart Energy show next week at Wembley Stadium.

He will be discussing a variety of case studies, both good and bad, with an audience made up of fellow biomass professionals, representatives from the public and private sector, and industry consultants.

Ed would like it to be known that this will not be the first time he has "played Wembley" - having had an inglorious 20 minutes on the hallowed turf in 1993 in a Wembley staff footballl match - but he hopes his efforts this time are slightly more constructive.

Richard Benyon, MP for Newbury, visits AHS Energy at Padworth

Even if wood as a fuel has been used since time immemorial, the idea of producing more than 50,000 tonnes a year of high quality biomass wood chip on one site alone takes some getting used to.  And we have found that there is enormous benefit to be gained by actually seeing the AHS Energy production site at Padworth in operation.

We are really keen to encourage firms and individuals to see what we are doing, so recently we decided to invite the local MP, Richard Benyon - he is also a shadow DEFRA minister - to come and take a look for himself.

It was quite obvious that Richard was already extremely well-informed about the potential for biomass as a renewable and sustainable source of fuel.  In fact he mentioned that he had looked into installing a boiler himself.  And because he had worked earlier in his career as a land agent, he was able to estimate how many tonnes of wood were being stored in the yard. 

Nick Guest felt that Richard was impressed by the scale and efficiency of the site.  With a single chipper able to produce such large quantities, it does seem peculiar that so much money has been invested over the years on small chippers that are only required to work for a very small proportion of the time.

Richard had a close look at the chipper in action and was bowled over by its immense power and speed.  He then saw the finished product after the screening and grading process.

One of the factors that has inhibited some organisations from pursuing biomass renewable fuel has been the perception that the supply chain is not sufficiently in place yet to give confidence.  Visits like this to Padworth soon put minds at rest.   

AHS Energy relaunches its website

AHS Energy has launched a new version of its website.

As part of the AHS Ltd corporate rebranding, the website has been designed to be easier to use and includes more detailed product information, a selection of videos and news, and links to the AHS Energy brochure. 

This development will be followed soon by the relaunch of www.ahs-ltd.co.uk, AHS's dedicated soft landscape and playground materials website, together with a new brochure.

For more information please contact us at info@ahs-ltd.co.uk

Paul Davenport is speaking at EBEC - 9th October 2009

AHS's Commercial Director, Paul Davenport, will be presenting at EBEC (European Bioenergy Expo & Conference) on Friday 9th October at 11.30am.

His presentation is entitled "Woodchip - managing the supply chain".

If you should bump into Paul while you are there, do say hello.

FSC – we got it!

We are all thrilled here at the news that AHS has finally achieved very prestigious  Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

 

It’s the result of lots of hard work, and it shows our commitment to meeting the highest possible social and environmental standards.  Have a look at our website for more details – www.ahsenergy.co.uk/news

 

Now we're also heading for ISO14001 - it takes a while but we are hoping to have achieved this by next Spring.

 

The Past Twelve Months

Posted By Nick Guest

The last twelve months have been pretty hectic. Our sales and technical staff are currently very busy putting forward the case for high quality wood fuel to be used as a renewable energy which reduces the carbon footprint. And at present we are working hard to win FSC and ISO 140001 environmental accreditation.

And as the Government's deadlines for the reduction of carbon emissions and the use of renewable energy draw ever closer, we are sure it will get busier..No complaint there.

But in truth much of the progress seems a lot slower than it should be because "the system" is clogging up with far too many Quangos and consultants. In our experience , these two groups are forever being paid vast amounts of money to carry out research into the wood fuel market and supply chain. And this research seems to be being carried out time and time again. How do we know? Because we are constantly being asked the same old questions, and some time later a new report appears with the same old results.

I would love to know how much money, spent in this way, has been wasted over the last 5 years, and how many public buildings could now be using alternative energy if they had had the money instead.

Just last month , we were sent by a consultant a new survey commissioned by the Forestry commission. Call me old-fashioned, but did anyone think for a second that a good afternoon spent on Google, reading old reports or calling us or our competitors might have produced the answers they needed and saved a lot of cash at the same time.

There seems to be masses of organisations that have been set up with the sole aim of dishing out grants of behalf of Central Government, some very good grants are handed out and they have a positive effect on the industry but there are many many grants being handed out which would appear too many as being a waste of public money.

We also feel that encouraging good forest management is vital in supporting the supply chain in the biomass wood fuel industry, but it is by no means the whole picture. Woodland owners will always be happy to receive a grant, but the money would be infinitely better spent encouraging them to work with fuel providers, rather than setting up to be fuel suppliers. The future success of the wood fuel industry depends on companies putting in place the infrastructure to handle the demands of customers such as Hospitals, airports etc in the same way as they are used to with current energy supplies

The forestry Commission also has a important role in helping to promote the use of timber for biomass from it's own managed forests, its not just up to the private woodland owners.

Many of the regions are extremely progressive but much work still needs to be done to encourage a healthy biomass industry. For example: the Commission transports large volumes of chip wood over long distances around the UK, this seems senseless and surely it would be far better to encourage use of this within a 50 or 60 mile radius to reduce carbon footprints etc.

It is time for all the talking to stop, and for someone to take responsibility for creating a practical and workable national policy and seeing it through. A grant here, a grant there. It's not good enough, and it can be a obscene waste of money. Much of the expertise is in place and we could end up missing a massive opportunity if we don't sort it...

 

Forest products Challenge 2009

Ahs energy staff members Charlie Jones and Neil Maplesden recently took part in the Forest Products team mountain bike event held at the Coed Llandegla Forest near Wrexham.

30 teams each with four members from the UK forest products industry turned out for what was billed as an exciting, safe and fun day not solely for serious mountain bikers. 

Originally the task was for the teams  to complete a 12 mile circuit of this beautiful forest in under 2-3 hours. The average time of the four members would be calculated to establish the overall winning team.

But on the morning of the event it was decided that it would be much more fun if the teams were to complete 2 circuits---24 miles. It was at this point both Charlie and Neil began to notice that many teams were taking the challenge very seriously and were out to win.

It all started well for Team Ahs but disaster struck when Neil's chain broke. Unable to fix the problem he ended up running and pushing his bike for most of  the circuit but both he and Charlie crossed the line together to complete the race. 

We must congratulate the winners UPM Tilhill, but it was a victory for all those who took part on this really enjoyable day... Charlie and Neil are now both in serious training and looking forward to the Forest products challenge 2010 

 

 

 

Tesco buiding world’s first zero carbon store

In a recent Sunday Times business section article Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, outlined his vision for cutting the company’s carbon emissions and increasing growth of the retailing giant in a green way.  Tesco is to build the world’s first zero carbon store, with energy coming from a combined heat and power plant.  They hope the store will become a template for a global roll-out. Other long term plans include providing the customer with an informed choice by carbon labelling produce (this is a good way of ensuring your suppliers put their own house in order), and introducing charging points for electric cars in car parks.  It must be said that all the other major retailers including Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer and Asda are all planning or operating new green policies.  Providing consumers with carbon information, greener produce and services can only be good and lead to a better environment.

On the same day a further article in the Sunday Times reported that the UK will not hit its targets for renewable energy.  It is forecasted that the country will only be sourcing 5% of its energy from renewables by 2020, not the 15% it signed up to with the European Commission.  At present the UK is one of the worst performers in Europe with only 2% of its energy needs coming from renewable sources.  The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), following consultation, will this summer publish its new strategy. This will set out how the UK will meet the 15% target it has legally signed up to and hopefully avoid substantial fines which could be imposed by the European Commission.

Let’s hope the DECC listened to those with whom they consulted because here at Ahs energy we have written to the Minister in charge Ed Miliband four times over the past three months and have never received a reply, and as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of renewable wood chip biomass we have a lot to offer a Government trying to meet its renewable energy obligations.