I had a total blast getting to know and hanging out with the crew from Single Origin Roasters out of Sydney, Australia, when we were in Melbourne for the World Barista Championship in May. They’re a lively, fun-loving, quality-focused group ”their coffee is bitchen, too!
Emma Cohen of Single Origin emailed me the other day to share some super cool news: the installation of a mega solar power set-up that has their entire Roast Works operation running on the power of the sun!
Single Origin’s Roast Works is now completely powered by solar energy harnessed by these solar panels during daylight hours.
Ninety-four solar panels now line the roof of the building, located in Botany. œThese panels are currently generating enough power to offset our total Roast Works electricity usage between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., which is when 90% of our operation is swinging, says Emma. œOn the production floor, they are turning the drums of the roasters including old Boris, driving the forklift and lending a hand to the packing. In the training room, they are powering the Dittings, Mahlkönig, and Mazzers, plus putting the amps into the Spirit, La Marzocco, Synesso, and The Juggler milk on tap system. In the cupping Lab, they are heating the hot water towers, powering the special cupping table light grids and even lighting up the almighty Geochron.
That’s a crap-load of power, mate! Emma says the photovoltaic installation is even lighting up Single Origin’s homemade coffee siphon lights.
94 solar panels line the top of Single Origin’s Roast Works ”holy smokes!
œSo now along with taking roaster drum, exhaust, and afterburner readings on our roaster’s digital display, through to doing our Agtron readings, TDS readings, green bean moisture meter readings and so forth, we are also now able to measure our watts generated on our new solar displays, Emma says.
Three cheers to you folks at Single Origin ”you’re an environmental sustainability inspiration to us all!
