Work on the roof replacement, which cost the Colchester-based firm around £60,000, began at the end of August and was completed within two weeks.

The flat roof over the company’s offices was first upgraded using a resin fiberglass coating. Once that was completed, the panels were installed on the south-west facing roofs across the rest of the building.

The installation of 198 panels in a 50kW solar array on the roof of the firm’s production facility will reduce its CO2 emissions by 60 tonnes per annum. The business expects to cut its total annual power consumption by 25%.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panel technology works by converting sunlight into renewable electricity cost-effectively. The government’s Feed-In Tariff (FIT) incentive makes payments to businesses using this technology for the environmentally efficient power that they generate.

Low-energy light fittings have also been installed at Rose Calendars’ factory to reduce power together with the use of a voltage optimiser. Used heat generated by machines will be diverted into the factory during the winter months to aid heating the building and pumped outside during the summer.

The environmentally conscious firm also uses paper sourced from FSC certified mills to produce its pictorial and commercial wall calendars and recycled board for all of its mailing cartons.

All of the firm’s paper, plastics, metal, chemicals and computer hardware are recycled through regeneration programmes while the company also includes recycling instructions on its calendars.

“We are proud to be leading the way in reducing our environmental impact by using solar energy in the production of our promotional calendars. This is another vital step in our strategy to be environmentally friendly,” said managing director Michael Rose.

Rose Calendars, one of the UK’s largest producers of promotional business calendars within the B2B market, has around 50 staff and runs a range of Kodak digital and Heidelberg offset presses.