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Angelina Jolie Would Be Proud Of This African Floral Farm
Copyright (c) 2007-2012 Wesley Berry, AAF
Angelina Jolie has become as well known for her efforts to make the world a better place as she is for her movie roles. She's done charitable work for many African countries. As such, she'd probably be very happy to hear that one flower producer located in Kenya has made the move to using environmentally friendly geothermal energy to heat its greenhouses.
Oserian Flower Company is the largest flower producer in Kenya. It's responsible for exporting approximately 400 million flowers to Europe annually. With an operation that large, the cost of supplying enough energy to keep the business running is enormous. In Kenya, electricity costs about twelve cents per kilowatt hour, but in more developed countries the cost is just two to five cents per kilowatt hour. So, to help reduce costs, Oserian Flower Company built its own geothermal power plant. Geothermal energy is a sustainable energy that comes from wells dug into the ground. The power plant is capable of providing over sixty percent of the total power used by the company.
And, if reduced energy costs weren't enough, the heat the geothermal power plant produces has added benefits, like preventing fungal growth that can kill the valuable flowers being grown there.
"The heating of the greenhouses reduces humidity from 100 to 80 percent, which in turn reduces the amount of chemical application that would normally be sprayed on the crop to prevent fungal diseases such as downy mildew and botrytis," says Managing Director Ron Fasol.
In addition, the flowers Oserian grows are healthier due to the geothermal energy used. The company points to the geothermal energy as being responsible for a higher yield of flowers with larger blooms, sturdier stems, more vibrant colors, and more blooms. As an added bonus for the 5,000 employees of the company, the use of fewer chemicals leads to a healthier place to work.
The cost for building the plant was approximately $10.5 million, which was paid entirely out of private funds with no government funding. It also didn't receive any charitable funding from people like Angelina Jolie. Instead, the company used a mixture of debt and equity to fund the project.
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Wesley Berry is member of the American Academy of Floriculture (AAF) and President of Wesley Berry Flowers, a successful multi-million dollar floral business that was established in 1946. As a member of the Henry Ford Hospital Community Relation Board he has contributed to the community at large. He owns both a brick and mortar and an internet flower delivery business. Visit Wesley Berry Flowerson the web at www.800wesleys.com.
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Top-Level Category: Business Offline Articles || Related Categories: Nature and Pets Articles and Home and Garden Articles
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