John Praoline, our Renewable Technology Manager, reflects on his career and passion to help our customers have more energy-efficient homes for Green Careers Week.
This year, our Renewable Technologies team has grown as we now have 11 fully qualified engineers and two apprentices at LiveWest.
Focused on helping to reduce our customers’ energy bills, our Renewable Technology team is taking steps to improve the energy efficiency of our homes whilst providing warmer homes.
John said: “For me, I have got a real drive to reduce the fuel poverty in my life, help reduce carbon footprints and help LiveWest on their journey to be net zero by 2050 as I have also been part of our trial for our electric vans.
“When I go into a customer’s home, I look at ways to improve the fabric of the home, and install high heat retention heaters or a heat pump and all of a sudden you have a customer who is warm and comfortable in their home.
“My job is great because our customers are so grateful for the work we do to improve the energy of their home and LiveWest is great to invest a large amount of funding into upgrading homes.”
With a big drive to install green technologies, like solar panels and heat pumps, into homes to improve its performance and reduce the carbon footprint, John reflects on the technological advancements he has seen so far in his career.
He said: “When I first started at the end of the 90s, solar panels were bigger and they were generating something around 115 watts.
“Now they are around 455 watts, they have got intelligent switches to reroute electricity back into different areas of the home and they are app-based with all of its data.
“It’s not just about how they store electricity, but solar panels can now divert electricity to where the home needs it most. This may be for hot water or heating but, we try to ensure the customer uses as much of the electric as possible before it gets pumped back to the national grid.
“If your home dips in power, the electricity that’s charged your car to 80% will divert to different areas of the home which need it more. The green technologies we use are quite clever.
“With my job and the advancements of green technologies, it is great because you are always at the forefront and actively helping people in the community and helping the environment.”
John’s role also plays a big part on our journey to being net zero by 2050, as he helps us improve our homes across the South West so they become more energy-efficient and sustainable.
As part of our steps to make our homes more sustainable, we are retrofitting our lowest energy- performing homes to ensure they have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C by 2028, two years before the government deadline.
This year, we have been recognised by Exeter Property Awards and Sustainable Homes Index for Tomorrow (SHIFT) for our ongoing efforts to help the environment and promote sustainability.
“Part of my job in the Renewables team is to look at our customer’s loft insulation, double glazing and wall insulation, we look into ways to reduce our customers’ water consumption and much more. It is also about having a fabric first approach.
“Our fabric-first approach means, before we take our next steps to improving the energy efficiency of the property with heat pumps or high-efficiency heaters, we look at the homes building materials and insulation,” he added.
As we continue our environmental approach, our careers in the renewable technologies sector has gone from strength to strength.
John said: “There are lots of people that have trained in other fields, like gas, oil and electrical who have decided to do a renewables course to advance their skills set that bit further.
“LiveWest has also introduced low carbon apprenticeships which work with our Renewable Technologies team and look at the impact of low carbon works.
“At LiveWest, we have quite a lot of people who want to progress with an environmental approach, whether it be an electrician or heating engineer to advance their training.”