Shropshire businessman helps Glastonbury revellers keep clean and green

Armed with umbrellas and wellies, thousands of festival-goers head to the Somerset site which is almost as famous for its downpours and quagmires as it is for the impressive line-up of stars.

But no matter what the weather holds, Shrewsbury green energy pioneer Andy Boroughs and his company Organic Energy have joined forces with eco-charity Greenpeace to provide hot water at Glastonbury’s Green Fields with its zero carbon wood pellet boilers.

The Welshpool-based company has a long association with the festival, which starts on Wednesday, where managing director Andy has been site manager at Green Fields for several years.

This year, Organic Energy is taking a 56 kW ÖkoFEN boiler from its showroom which will be fork-lifted on to the site, along with two tonnes of wood pellets.

Andy said: “We brought out first boiler to the festival in 2007 and are proud to have been providing hot water for the showers ever since.

“We know that some festival-goers just take baby wipes and a flannel, but judging by the queues we always have for our showers, many want a proper wash at some point over the weekend.

“While we always hope for good weather, it is great to be able to offer revellers a chance to have a good time, enjoy a shower and protect the environment at the same time. Last year more than 7,200 people had a zero carbon shower over the four day period.“

And Glastonbury visitors will also be able to learn about renewable energy options, thanks to a mural created by award-winning Swedish artist Sami Lill.

Greenpeace production designer Pippa Culpepper said: “We’d like people to know about our reasons for making the choice we make when it comes to renewable energy, and a major part of this will be showing festival-goers how our showers work.

“We are creating a mural around the showers which describes how the boiler works. It is great to be working with Andy and the team at Organic Energy again and we’re looking forward to welcome thousands more people for a wash later this month.”

In 2010, the showers were rainforest-themed and saw queues stretched for miles around the field. Designed like a Scandinavian bath-house, the showers were decorated with lush tropical plants donated by the Chelsea Flower Show, set to a soundtrack of exotic birds and boasted a small infinity pool.

Andy added: “Glastonbury is always great fun, it’s hard work setting up but great to be able to show so many people in one place the effectiveness of wood pellet powered hot water showers, and educate festival-goers about renewable energy.

“Last year, the Prince of Wales visited the Green Fields site and had a look around, unfortunately he didn’t try out the showers but we are hoping for some music royalty to pay us a visit this year.”

The hot water on site is provided by one of Organic Energy’s ÖkoFEN Pellematic boilers, with the Welshpool-based company the sole UK distributor for the leading Austrian manufacturer.

The wood pellets are a relatively cheap, renewable, sustainable and low carbon fuel. As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide from the air, the amount of carbon dioxide that a tree absorbs during its life is released again in the same quantity whether the timber is burnt or decomposes.