Renewable Energy Installer February 2015 | Page 18

Opinion
Q&A
Two minutes
with . . .
Jon Muldoon
Grundfos
Who are you?
Paul Barwell, CEO of the Solar Trade Association
What do you do?
The STA is a not for profit trade association representing the
solar PV and solar thermal industries in the UK. We are the most
influential UK solar trade body with a real track record of winning
breakthroughs for UK solar.
Where are you?
We are based in London near Charing Cross – we have just recently
moved office.
How’s business at the moment?
Very busy! Political uncertainty, the looming general election
and defending the industry from the changes to the Renewables
Obligation in May 2014 has increased our workload significantly.
And these challenges are all additional to our everyday roles of
responding to the many DECC consultations, ongoing policy work
and membership enquiries.
How could business be better?
How about some political stability! The changes to the Renewables
Obligation announced on 13 May 2014 have set an uncomfortable
precedent for the renewables industry in general. Budgets are
under close scrutiny from the Treasury, and with the FITs review in
the second half of this year we could do with some support from the
new government.
What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?
Embrace change – markets move very quickly and you have to keep
up. What we ‘create’ will ‘destroy’ itself within a few years due to
competition, so you need to anticipate and embrace the changes
that are needed however tough they may be.
How are you going green?
All our back office functions are now electronic and in the cloud,
including all our membership contracts. Much less paper, and
much lower overheads.
18 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
REI: What have you got planned for 2015?
JM: In 2015 one of our key focus areas is to support our
customers by offering them the most advanced energy
efficient products. We have launched our Comfort range
of hot water recirculation pumps, with the patented
Autoadapt function, this allows them to only operate
when required, saving energy and optimising water usage.
What do you see as the growth area in renewables?
With the latest release of Eco funding from the
government, along with the Green Deal, and both the
domestic and commercial RHI, the increased uptake in
renewable technologies providing heating and hot water
will continue to grow throughout 2015. With increased
public awareness of the availability of these alternatives
to traditional carbon based fuels, and the associated
environmental benefits , we are well placed to support
this growth with our advanced products and their market
leading energy saving features.
How is your company cutting its carbon footprint?
As a company, Grundfos sets very high environmental
standards – both locally and globally. Reducing energy
consumption related to our activities and reducing
our customers’ energy consumption is one of the most
important aspects in our effort to realise this ambition.
We have therefore committed never to emit more CO2
than we did in 2008 despite the growth in our turnover. As
we plan economic growth at a 10+ percent level, we have
a challenge!
Jon Muldoon is national business
development manager for domestic
building services at Grudfos