Renewable Energy
Environmental awareness has a long history in the Augustin and Quast families, also in relation to energy utilisation. In 1993, Hamburg´s first wind turbines were put into operation on Katrin Augustin's brother, Heinrich Quast's, Demeter farm. Even today, they are still generating energy – in fact more than five suppliers and the Augustin Organic Fruit Farm KG use up in one year.
Ecology behind the Scenes
This simply was not enough for Dierk Augustin. In summer 2008 the entire cold and long-term storage facilities were equipped with state-of-the-art, energy-saving technology. In addition the waste heat from the stock rooms is collected in a buffer storage facility and used to heat residential and office buildings. If the heating requirements are very high, a wood-chip heating system is integrated. This system is fuelled with wood from rooted out fruit trees. Therefore all the gas heaters could be removed and the business is now completely self-sufficient with regard to its heating requirements. The system is the first of its kind and a genuine pioneer project.
Despite the application of energy-saving technology, the Augustin Fruit Farm KG's demand for electric energy is still quite high. In addition to the positive energy balance provided by the wind turbines, Dierk Augustin would like to continue to invest in this area. For this reason an energy report is to be compiled. Further decisions, based on consumption data and options regarding state-of-the-art technology such as in the field of photovoltaics, will then be taken. Until then, additionally required energy will be acquired in the form of green power from Greenpeace Energy.