Ripple enables businesses to take meaningful climate action while stabilising monthly energy bill expenditure. By simply co-owning part of a wind farm or solar park, progressive enterprises demonstrate their environmental and fiscal priorities to their entire stakeholder base.
Ripple is proud to reveal that Cornish Gems–a unique holiday platform that gives discerning consumers access to luxury retreats in Cornwall–is an official Ripple member. Cornish Gems was already making excellent progress in its sustainability endeavours as a certified B-Corp and fiercely local operation. Joining Ripple has furthered the company’s green agenda exponentially while unlocking operational cost protection from spikes.
Here is a closer look at how Cornish Gems’ Ripple ownership will benefit the company, its consumers, and Cornwall as a whole.
Team Ripple recently met Cornish Gems at the site of Derril Water Solar Park – click the image below to watch the conversation and keep reading to get the full story.
Who are Cornish Gems?
Founded in 2017, Cornish Gems was launched to showcase the very best holiday accommodation in Cornwall. Think luxury holiday homes with exemplary facilities, views, and proximity to some of the UK’s finest beaches. The aim was to make a getaway more than just a break from the norm and more of an unforgettable experience, interwoven with unapologetic indulgence and luxury. However, there is more to the company’s ethos than simple decadence: sustainability has played a key role since day one.
“We’re leading by example,” founder Nadia Macer-Wright explained. “The local community allows us to operate, and we want to give back, responsibly and sustainably.”
As such, Cornish Gems and its team consider themselves ambassadors of Cornwall. This motivates the constant drive to showcase not only the best that the coastal haven has to offer but also to protect its natural resources. Lowering its operational footprint is a key part of a community-first sustainability initiative and Ripple is helping with that.
Discovering Ripple Energy
Ripple offers business owners the opportunity to buy shares in renewable energy projects to unlock bill savings and reduce carbon emissions in a quantifiable way.
Having read about Ripple in a news article, the Cornish Gems team reached out to enquire how the business team could help them make even more meaningful sustainability progress. Identifying community-centric synergies in the approaches of both companies, Cornish Gems decided to become an official Ripple member.
In doing so, the luxury travel platform secured enough shares in Ripple’s Derril Water Solar Park project to cover 100% of its annual electricity consumption. This means that it will generate a significantly smaller carbon footprint–being supplied with genuinely green energy, via the grid–while enjoying at least 40 years (the average lifespan of a solar park) of lower electricity bills.
The move will further bolster previous efforts to green operations, which have included flexible work policies to reduce unnecessary staff commuting, a cycle-to-work scheme, and, pertinently, an eco-conscious rental property collection that holidaymakers can choose from.
Cornish conservatorship
While Cornish Gems acknowledges that being eco-conscious and accessing lower energy bills are savvy business moves, Nadia iterates that there is a deeper motivation at play than mere profit margins and saleability.
“We want to do things differently,” she explained. “We are excited for the future of Cornwall but we need to protect it. We’ve always been ahead of the game in terms of offering the best holiday lets and ensuring they meet exacting standards, but now, we want to use our success to do the right thing and to help consumers spend intelligently. That means with companies that will replenish and revitalise Cornwall, not only for holidaymakers but also those of us who live and work here all year round.”
Cornish Gems’ Ripple ownership
Owning part of the Derril Water Solar Park means that wherever Cornish Gems operates from, be it owned or leased premises, it can be supplied with genuinely green electricity, via the grid.
When Derril water begins generating, Cornish Gems will see how much it is saving in electricity costs each month. From there, the team can make an informed decision whether to stick at 100% consumption cover or increase to the maximum 120%, by buying shares in a future Ripple project.
As a business Ripple member, Cornish Gems will be updated, via its member dashboard, as to how much green energy its share of the solar park has generated and what this equates to in terms of CO2 savings, compared to conventional energy generation. These figures can then be used across the Cornish Gems platform to underscore its ongoing sustainability drive, for at least 40 years.
Breaking down the numbers
Cornish Gems’ Ripple membership in the Derril Water Solar Park project equates to 100% of the company’s annual electricity consumption.
It is predicted that the business will see bill savings for 40 years (the anticipated lifespan of the project) -and across the project lifespan, Cornish Gems will save 205 tonnes of carbon, which is equivalent to 1,831 trees.
Ready to take part in real climate action, and power your business with genuinely green, clean energy? Reserve your place on our next big project, find out other ways you get involved, or chat to our team below.
