ScotAsh on Official List of Europe¹s 100 Hottest Green Businesses

ScotAsh Limited is included in this year¹s CleanTech 100 ­ dubbed ³the official list of Europe¹s hottest green businesses².

The company ­ a joint venture between ScottishPower and Lafarge Cement ­ manufactures cements, grouts and other construction products from power station ash, conserving natural aggregates, saving CO2 emissions and avoiding the need to landfill up to a million tonnes of ash each year.

Based at Longannet Power Station, Kincardine-on-Forth, ScotAsh is one of just a handful of Scottish businesses to make it onto the CleanTech 100, compiled by The Guardian newspaper and Library House, a consultancy which tracks and provides intelligence on fast growth, innovation based private companies.

The CleanTech 100 represents a rigorously selected group of private clean technology companies, deemed to represent the hottest prospects for the future, selected using Library House software and an expert panel of ³clean tech² investors and company leaders.

Describing CleanTech 100 in The Guardian, Richard White of Library House said: ³The aim is to highlight a group of the most promising private companies in Europe, focusing on clean technology, with companies selected on the basis of their potential for future growth and beneficial impact on the environment.

³With climate and energy use nudging the top of the political and commercial agendas, these are companies that have a stake in how our world develops.²

ScotAsh, the only Scottish winner of a Queen¹s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category this year, is currently supplying ³green² construction materials to several major projects, including the M74 extension and key venues for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The company, through I & H Brown and Consolidate, is supplying conditioned ash and cement that is being used in the construction of the new Chris Hoy Velodrome and the National Indoor Sports Arena.

Around 50,000 tonnes of conditioned ash and 5,000 tonnes of cement will go in to the groundworks for the new venues, near Celtic Park in Glasgow¹s East End. The use of ScotAsh products instead of conventional materials will save about 52,000 tonnes of primary aggregates and around 2,400 tonnes of CO2.

In addition, by using ash-based products instead of sand, 10,000 tonnes less material can be used, saving approximately 500 lorry movements, covering at least 5,000 miles.

ScotAsh Managing Director Peter Quinn said: ³We¹re very proud to be playing our part in ensuring these key venues for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are built using sustainable materials.²

He added: ³The whole team is delighted to have been included in the CleanTech 100 list, ranking alongside forward thinking, clean technology companies from all over Europe. As well as being good for the environment, clean technology products are often more cost effective than conventional solutions, which is news to be welcomed in these cash constrained times.²

UK companies accounted for 52% of the CleanTech 100 list, with the remainder from across Europe and Israel. Eight Scottish businesses made the list including, in addition to ScotAsh: Pelamis Wave Power (Edinburgh), Proven Energy (Stewarton); Scotrenewables (Orkney); Xipower (Stirling); St Andrew¹s Fuel Cells (St Andrews); Flexitricity (Edinburgh) and Integrated Environmental Solutions (Glasgow).