Now the local Easington District Council has given the go-ahead for the two 250kw turbines which now await final clearance from the Ministry of Defence before work commences. Once operational they should furnish the majority of the factory’;s annual energy consumption. With a staff of 250, Cumbrian is a major employer in this former mining area.

The turbines are part of a package of measures, which aim to achieve an energy neutral status for the new factory, thus substantially improving the business’; carbon foot print. Cumbrian chairman and founder Peter Vassallo said: 'Carbon efficiency has been designed into this factory from the ground up. We have always sought to lead the industry in sustainable sourcing through our fishing activities, and we are now equally committed to achieving sustainability in our energy sourcing too.'

The company believes that energy costs are likely to increase over the long term and will affect all seafood producers which is why it has been looking at environmentally friendly ways of generating electricity. 'We are at the forefront of sourcing fish, so we want to do the same with energy,' a spokesman said.

Wind turbines are not used by the fish industry in Iceland. The source of energy in the fish industry is in large part clean, geothermal energy.

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA; more here) is a technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product, process, or service, by:

• compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases;
• evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and releases;
• interpreting the results to help you make a more informed decision.

This issue is of great interest to Matís and the company has over a period of time now supported implementation of LCA during production processes of Icelandic material.