Funeral director goes green and wins national award

Ian Hazel Funerals has been named winner of the Innovative Saver category in the Love Energy Savings Awards 2016. The annual event is run by business energy price comparison specialists. It aims to showcase businesses from across the UK who are working hard to become more energy efficient. Ian Hazel Funerals is a family-run business. It derives at least 70 percent of its electricity from the 78 solar panels that were recently installed on the roof. It was part of a major overhaul of their premises, which also included the introduction of rainwater harvesting, heat recovery through a mechanical ventilation system, and the installation of energy-efficient LED lighting and motion sensors. Ian Hazel is delighted to have won the ‘Innovative Saver’ award from Love Energy Savings. He said: “I have always been committed to creating a ‘greener funeral’ and helping the environment. Our new state-of-the-art funeral home makes great leaps towards providing an environmentally friendly funeral service whilst remaining committed to traditional values. "Winning the award means a lot to me because it means that people outside of my industry and local community are aware that a small to medium sized company that trades in a very specific local area is trying to make an ecological impact on the country as a whole.” Phil Foster, managing director of Love Energy Savings, commented on the announcement of the winners: “It was an incredibly difficult task to select the finalists of this year's Love Energy Savings Awards - the standard of entrants was incredibly high. The Awards have grown substantially in their second year, and we are hoping that this will continue. “We hope that receiving the Awards not only gives the winning businesses the recognition they deserve for their efforts to become more environmentally friendly, but that they also inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Everyone can play their part, and these Awards prove that we can all make changes to help create a better future for us all.”