NEWARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ATUM, a Newark, California-based leader in bioengineering and bioproduction, announced today the completion of a $1.5 million 26,000 sq. ft solar panel installation at its corporate headquarters and manufacturing site. The panel will generate enough electricity to satisfy all of ATUM’s electricity needs, making it one of just a handful of biotech firms fueled entirely by renewable energy.
“Delivering ATUM's products and services requires a lot of electricity: from air conditioning the building to running the incubators, freezers, robots, and servers that power our business,” said Jeremy Minshull, PhD., CEO of ATUM. “Our new solar panel array, with an annual capacity of nearly 1 MWH, enables us to generate all of our electricity from the sun.”
A series of panels installed at three carports adjacent to the ATUM headquarters by Pleasanton, California-based Cool Earth Solar provides the majority of the new capacity, adding to an earlier roof installation.
The solar project is just the latest in a series of green initiatives at ATUM, which aims to achieve the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in all areas of its business, including manufacturing, architecture, human resources and portfolio management. The company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and make a positive contribution towards combating climate change started with the purchase and retrofit of their current bioproduction facility in 2015.
In addition to the recently completed solar array, the site features LED lighting throughout, energy efficient elastomeric acrylic roofing, and a water recycling system. ATUM also participates in a cost-neutral waste to energy program and a composting program. Employees have access to free solar-powered car charging stations, as well as carpool and other shared transportation incentives.
The new ATUM state-of-the-art bioproduction facility supports customers in the fields of protein pharmaceuticals to engineer new biological drugs to cure diseases, industrial biocatalysis to replace toxic chemical processes with biofriendly methods, and food industry to make better nourishment for customers across the globe.
For the founders of ATUM, sustainability is more than a corporate slogan. It’s a personal ethos and a long-term commitment. “Climate change is the biggest challenge facing us today,” said Minshull. “Every year we watch California's wildfires grow bigger and more destructive and wonder what kind of world we are making for our children. ATUM's solar power project is an investment in the future - for all of us.”
About ATUM
ATUM offers an integrated pipeline of tools including gene design, optimization and synthesis, expression vectors, and platforms for protein and cellular engineering and production. The company exploits the dependence of biological activity on well-designed sequences. ATUM’s tools and solutions are fueling the transformation of biology from a discovery science to an engineering discipline. By collaborating with our clients, ATUM accelerates breakthroughs and moves research further faster. For more information please visit: https://www.atum.bio.
