Between 2008 and 2010 SATTURN HOLEŠOV participated in a research and development project for the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic called ”Decentralized Wastewater Treatment with telemetric measuring system for small municipalities”. This innovative project successfully passed the final opposition procedure and the first treatment plants as a system solution for small municipalities were introduced later, in 2018. In the meantime, the company’s headquarters were renovated and on that occasion, a system for using rainwater to flush toilets was also introduced within the company building. As a result, the consumption of drinkable water was reduced by an incredible 70%.
The second of the ecological innovations that SATTURN HOLEŠOV introduced was a photovoltaic power plant. The electricity generated by the photovoltaic power plant covers a decisive part of SATTURN HOLEŠOV’s electricity consumption to this day.
The third important step in the environmental process was the complete thermal insulation of the entire building. This was carried out as part of the aforementioned renovation of the building when the natural gas boilers were replaced with condensing boilers. Thanks to photovoltaics, the company was then able to introduce decentralized hot water heating in the building. Hot water is now distributed throughout the building to minimize transport distances from the hot water source to the point of consumption. The source of this process is still photovoltaics, as the boilers that heat the water are now also electric. During the day, the electricity for heating is taken from the sun, and in the evening no one is in the building, so there is essentially no need for hot water.
The very first photovoltaic power plant was built by SATTURN HOLEŠOV in 2009 on its own company premises. This was also the period when photovoltaics in general, were becoming more popular in the Czech Republic. And since it was already an electrical installation company at that time, it was more than appropriate to introduce this photovoltaic solution. In addition to the positive impact on the environment, this move made sense for SATTURN HOLEŠOV for another reason. The entire project was managed by Mr. Jaromír Sr. himself, and he and his colleagues had the opportunity to test and learn everything on their own construction site. He was therefore able to learn how to design, budget, build, and operate photovoltaic systems over a long period of time. At the time, this decision may have seemed like a business risk, but it later turned out to be a really worthwhile as around 2009-2012, the so-called “solar boom” in the Czech Republic took place, which saw a huge expansion of solar power plants in the country.
The environmental projects that SATTURN HOLEŠOV has been part of have also brought them many awards. One of the most important is the Magalhães Strait of Chile Award for Innovation and Discovery with Global Reach. Among other awards, SATTURN HOLEŠOV is the Czech Republic’s Family Business of the Year for 2021 in the “Small Business” category. They are also the only company in the industry to be awarded the Czech Made Award for system telemetry for wastewater and domestic water treatment systems.
“I can declare from my own example that this is a sensible, sustainable way for the company, whether we are talking about using rainwater instead of drinking water or photovoltaics.” Jaromír Sr.
The owner of the company himself is concerned with the environment not only within the company but also in the context of the city of Holešov, where he serves as a counselor and chairman of the Energy Commission. Therefore, an energy community is now being formed in Holešov, which brings the city together with citizens and companies and will then offer communally shared electricity within this community. Mr. Jaromír Tomšů Sr. is responsible for everything related to ecological technologies or procedures. He mentions that because his company is not a large corporation and because he has the full support of his family, the decision-making process is not so demanding. He consults with his family in the evenings or on weekends about any big changes. No decision is made that the whole family doesn’t know about.
