Green champion shortlisted for award

The Calista Group, a new renewables business operating from Uffculme, is celebrating after its leader, Paul Brown, Ex-Connaught regional director and green champion, has been shortlisted in the Entrepreneur of the Year category in the renewables industry’s equivalent to the ‘Oscars’, the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards.

Now in their fourth year, the BusinessGreen Leaders Awards celebrate the leading businesses, executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and campaigners from across the green economy, highlighting how these pioneers are driving the emergence of innovative and sustainable new business models and technologies. Testament to Calista’s achievement in becoming a finalist in these awards, other companies shortlisted include the likes of Ikea, RBS and the UK Green Building Council.

The renewables company, formed in February this year, offers a complete approach for homeowners and businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint – from offering advice on insulation, funding, and all available green technologies – but it was the firm’s retrofit satellite system that caught the eye of judges.

The beauty of the firm’s unique Calista™ system of retro-fitting external items such as satellite dishes, alarm systems and pipe work, is that it is not only friendly to the environment, but to the budget too, as it reduces installation costs for external items by up to 25%. Just three months after launching the innovative system, Calista is in discussions with the UK’s top 10 manufacturers of external wall insulation. This is just one of the green technologies Paul Brown, Managing Director for The Calista Group, hopes to deliver as part of his commitment to providing a holistic approach to making communities greener, illustrating why the judges felt Paul is a worthy Green Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.

Paul comments: “Being shortlisted for such a prestigious award so early on in the development of our business is a privilege and one I share with the entire team as everyone involved has been instrumental in helping achieve it.

Some ten years ago my passion for the renewables industry was ignited when I saw first-hand how people were affected by fuel poverty – this is not just a job for me, it’s my mission to enable people to embrace a more energy efficient way of life by offering them advice on how to live greener and how to access the funding to do so. This will, in turn, mean lower fuel costs and a happier community. With the Government incentives available such as the green deal home improvement fund allowing homeowners to access up to £7,600, now is the right time to look at ways to reduce energy costs.”

The Calista Group also takes its social responsibility very seriously and has been working closely with Petroc College in Tiverton to try and create an apprenticeship scheme to train young people in the installation of green technology, which Paul believes is set to grow exponentially over the next ten years.

Paul and his team will be attending the glittering BusinessGreen Leaders Awards ceremony at the Brewery in London on 2 July to find out whether The Calista Group has been successful.