Klaus, Austria. WolfVision, the Austrian high-end manufacturer, has been awarded the AV Award 2010 in the Green/Environmental Activity of the Year category.

Over 500 AV specialists attended the prestigious AV Awards 2010 dinner on Friday the 8th of October in London. Martin Wolf, President of WolfVision GmbH, summarised the event when he said, “We are delighted to receive such an award from Europe’s largest AV magazine. As a company located in the Austrian countryside, sustainability is a matter of course and has been so for many years. Being Naturally Green means putting the environment first and money second. We have never calculated any ROI and do not think you should do so with green projects. However, there is no doubt that our commitment to a stringent green agenda has boosted our reputation in the marketplace.”

Examples of how the policies are put into practice include:

-       Designing products to be 95 per cent recyclable;

-       Using automatic circuits to control product power consumption;

-       Adopting LED technology and firmware, which reduces product energy consumption by 70 per cent and extends replacement cycles, and;

-       Keeping transport and packaging to a minimum by making component purchases locally.

With its new company building, which was completed in 2008, the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified company has proved its commitment to environmental issues. The design of the workstations and working areas comply with the most modern of standards. The building has an automatic intelligent lighting system which is capable of activating lights in the presence of motion and low ambient light. The air conditioning system, which uses underground thermal energy, has minimal energy expenditure and is completely independent of fossil fuels.

 “Just by the means of videoconferencing and funding public transportation costs for our employees, we curb CO2 traffic emissions by around 180 tonnes annually,” further emphasised Martin Wolf.

The stellar line-up of judges expressed their approval on the night. Owen Ellis of Morgan Stanley, commented, “WolfVision has placed sustainability at the core of its business, throughout all policies and processes, supported by its employees who maintain their rigorous standards - an example to all.”