With numerous members of the Clouds Team having served in the armed forces this is a cause that we support ardently. The money was raised by the Team with a “swear box”, the majority contribution being made by a Senior Consultant because of his tendency to curse often.

Help for Heroes raises money to support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. All the funds raised to date are either allocated or spent on the direct, practical support of those wounded in the current conflicts. The charity strive towards 100% effectiveness – so that for every £1 donated, £1 will go directly to helping wounded Servicemen and women.

Since 2007, Help for Heroes has helped hundreds of men and women who have been wounded, injured or become sick in the line of duty since 9/11. Some of their stories can be read on the Help for Heroes website, bringing a tear to your eye for the courage and bravery shown.

The Clouds donation can be viewed here. The running total at the time of our donation was over £126.13million. We aim to do more in the near future to help this great cause.

Over the past year Clouds have worked with a number of local businesses and Councils throughout Hampshire County to try to reduce their energy consumption and improve their environmental impact. With ambitious Government targets for emissions and rising costs associated with energy usage, it’s good to see businesses taking energy management seriously.

In the past five years alone Clouds have helped a variety of businesses to identify potential savings of over 80,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. This is the same amount of CO₂ as a Boeing 747 flying 20.2 times around the world! To offset this you would need a forest the size of 7,000 football pitches, or 40 large 2MW wind turbines running constantly for a year. At Clouds we are committed to doing more than your basic request, we are committed to saving you money and saving the environment.

Clouds’ nomination is testament to the increasing importance of energy and the environment to businesses throughout Hampshire. We look forward to the coming year and continuing to make an impact throughout the County.

If you would like to know how we could help you, please contact us.

We are currently in the progress of creating a page on our website to let you know about the causes and organisations that we support, above and beyond our core service delivery.

2011 was another excellent year for Clouds and with major contracts already under way, and some exciting projects being discussed, 2012 looks set to be even better.

This year there a plans to increase the ever-growing Service Portfolio and offer an even more enhanced full energy and environmental management service.

Clouds see a promising year ahead with the launch of the Green Deal and continued pressure from Government and Stakeholders to reduce energy and carbon.

The Government wants to reduce business emissions by a further 13% from 2008 levels, by 2022. Here at Clouds we feel this is a feasible target and are excited by the challenge.

If you have any questions regarding the reduction of your own business emissions, and would like to know how Clouds can help you reduce the environmental impact of your business, please contact us now.

There are now only 4 more working days until we all break up for Christmas. Today the Clouds Christmas Card was sent out to our contacts and is as below to ensure that nobody misses out on this Festive Greeting.

It has been a successful 2011 and a lot has happened, a few things include;

• The Office Move.
• New Website Launch.
• New permanent staff members including; Joe Ford (Marketing Assistant) and Kevin Watts (Energy Consultant).
• New clients including; British Airways, Warwickshire County Council, West Sussex County Council, Nottinghamshire Police, BAM Construction and GKN Aerospace, amongst others.
• More Accreditations including; SAFEcontractor, Constructionline and CHAS.

During the Christmas period we like to ensure that all staff have a welcomed break and can enjoy spending a good amount of time with their Family and Friends. For most of us at Clouds we will be away from close of play 23rd December 2011 and will return on the 3rd January 2012.

We really do hope you have a lovely Christmas and that 2012 brings an even brighter future.

If you would like to speak with us to see how we can help in the coming year, please contact us.

After some downtime (technicalities beyond our control) and months of hard work Clouds are now happy to announce that cloudsenvironmental.co.uk is fully operational again. We are back online with a new and improved site offering all of our clients ease of access to information regarding Carbon Management, Energy Management, Environmental Management and Legal Compliance Services.

The website will serve as an intermediary between the client and the Clouds team, offering concise information on the services we provide. A starting point for potential clients, providing a better idea of who we are, what experience we have and how to contact us. And with a range of services on offer, and a large portfolio of Multi-National clients, this is something we are keen to display.

Christina Moore, the Marketing Manager, said ‘the aim was to create a website acting as a one-stop shop for all of our client’s needs. Also we wanted to portray a more translucent image of Clouds as an organisation highlighting our straightforward, stress-free approach to Energy and Carbon Management solutions.’

With the new website and an ever-expanding portfolio the future looks bright for Clouds Environmental.

If you have any feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, we would love to know your thoughts.

Under the SAFEcontractor system, businesses undergo a vetting process, which examines health and safety procedures and their track record for safe practice.

John Kinge, Head of Risk at SAFEcontractor said, “Major organisations can no longer run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies”.

“More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that Clouds has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example, which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector”.

Over one hundred and fifty major nation-wide businesses, from several key sectors, have signed up to use the scheme when selecting contractors for services such as building, cleaning, maintenance, refurbishment or electrical and mechanical work.

Having our SAFEcontractor Accreditation is important to us as we take Health and Safety very seriously. We also like our Clients and potential customers be reassured that we are a Top Quality Service provider for Energy Management. Although we do not carry out Construction work and are Consultancy based we are still very committed to the cause.

Our accreditations speak for themselves and you can be confident in our hands. View our accreditations for details.

The original 3 year framework put in place in 2008 by The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), will now expire on 2^nd November 2012.

The framework agreement allows public bodies to effectively purchase energy performance services without going through a lengthy tender process. All suppliers on the agreement have been pre-assessed on their ability to deliver energy certificates, assessor accreditation, software and quality assurance.

This means you can take advantage of using government approved and procured prices for Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), Display Energy Certificates (DECs) and Air Conditioning (AC) Inspections.

Although the website for the OGC buying solutions framework is now no longer in existence, Clouds have signed and agreed to adhere to the original terms of the agreement. The request has been directed by the Corporate Procurement Division of DCLG.

You can ensure legal compliance through these services that Clouds offer. A brief overview of the practical solutions that Clouds supply to effectively manage your energy and environmental impact include;

• Energy management
• Carbon management
• Environmental management
• Legal compliance

Clouds offer a reliable, professional service based on over 20 years’ experience in energy management.

If you are need of any of the specialist services mentioned, or you are unsure what you need to do to become EPBD compliant, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change have announced that the unit rates for all solar Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) are to be slashed as government funding is beginning to dry up. 

Consumers thinking of investing in solar panels have been advised to do so as soon as possible. The unit rates on most tariffs are likely to be reduced significantly (over half on the smaller bands) by April 2012. The following is thought to be applied:

• All installations fitted, registered and with the Feed-in Tariff applied for by the 12^th December 2011 will still receive the 43.3p for 25 years.
• Installations between the 12^th December and 31^st March 2011 will receive 43.3p up until the 31^st March 2011. After this date the tariff will drop to 21p for the remaining years.
• All installations after the 31^st March 2011 will be at the reduced rate for 21p.

The government has blamed a surge in applications for the Feed-in Tariff for the reduction. “My priority is to put the solar industry on a firm footing so that it can remain a successful and prosperous part of the green economy, and so that it doesn’t fall victim to boom and bust,” said Greg Barker, the Climate Change and Energy Minister.

The government argue that, if they took no action, by 2014-15 FITs for solar PV would be costing consumers £980 million a year, adding around £26 (2010 prices) to annual domestic electricity bills in 2020.

However many people within the industry have criticised the extent of the cuts, arguing that they threaten the livelihood of the industry.

Howard Johns, the chairman of the Solar Trade Association said “…to go for another knee-jerk fast-track review is highly damaging and puts at risk the 25,000 jobs that the UK solar industry has created. The high take-up of the Fits should be seen as a success story.”

The proposed prices will bring the UK tariffs in line with Germany and, whilst not finalised, are believed by many to be implemented shortly.

Here at Clouds we provide Feasibility Studies that will help give an Independent review of whether or not you should go ahead with a project like this. For more information please call us now: 023 9263 9858.

For a full breakdown of the proposed prices see DECC article in link below.

Further Information:

• DECC
• The Guardian
• The Energy Saving Trust

Clouds are pleased to welcome Joe Ford to their Sales and Marketing Team.

At Clouds we like to think we are a friendly approachable company and feel that it is our customer-centric approach that has led to our success. With this in mind Clouds have hired a Marketing Assistant to aid the Sales and Marketing Manager, ensuring that customer queries are dealt with promptly.

With the new website due for launch next month, an expanding service portfolio and a rise in the number of high-profile clients, Clouds (in particular Christina, the Sales and Marketing Manager!) are pleased that Joe has joined to help out the team. The extra pair of hands means that Clouds will be able to continue to offer a higher level of technical expertise than you might find from the average Sales team within the Industry.

Customer service is at the forefront of what we do. Joe, a Graduate of the University of Portsmouth has previous customer facing experience within the Energy sector and we believe he will be an invaluable asset to Clouds.

If you would like to make an enquiry and give Joe a chance to deal with any problems you have, please Contact Us.

Clouds once again took part in The Big Green Commuter Challenge which aims to encourage firms to use sustainable transport. This is a friendly contest which publicises the social, personal and environmental benefits of sustainable commuting.

Clouds have taken part since 2008 and are proud to support this good cause. Whilst we did not do as well as we would have like to (we didn’t win), we will come back stronger in 2012!

This year the event helped save  97,542 miles and 9,418KG of emissions between the 35 organisations that took part. Next year is the event’s 10th anniversary and we look forward to being a part of it.

You can see the results here.