Uk's Top Eco Millionaire List RELEASED!

Dec. 26, 2009 - PRLog -- This is proof that we've been waiting for that the millions are still there for the taking, simply learn new skills and steam ahead - Gary McGeown, The Irish Entrepreneur Superconference (http://LifeLastingSuccess.com)

Research by Philip Beresford, author of The Sunday Times Rich List, has unveiled 20 British business people who have already made millions from going green. They range from Dale Vince, the New Age traveller turned wind-power tycoon, to the Cottingham family, which has quietly built up a fortune from insulating houses and installing energy-efficient heating. In drawing up the list, we have excluded businessmen like Sir Richard Branson, who have added environmental interests to their businesses.

Compared with other European countries, in particular Germany and Spain, Britain has been sparing with its subsidies for renewable energy and slow to push through big infrastructure projects in the face of local opposition.

All that might be about to change. After the fudge at Copenhagen, where world leaders failed to adopt firm targets to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, Britain is one of the few developed countries with a legally binding target on greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Change Act 2008 says the UK must cut carbondioxide output 34% by 2020, a goal that should generate even more opportunities for our green millionaires.

1: DALE VINCE Ecotricity £85m

Dale Vince was a grammar school pupil in Great Yarmouth but realised he did not want a conventional career. He got his first taste of the hippie way of life at music festivals: “I’d seen people living in old buses and knew there was an alternative.”

So at 19 Vince decided to become a New Age traveller. His first home was an old ambulance. Eventually, he was living in a truck that he had converted into a home and he had an entire alternative lifestyle.

“I had a little wind turbine to charge old batteries and even run a laptop computer ,” he said. Vince wanted more than to lead a lowimpact lifestyle, though, so he drove to Cornwall to see Britain’s first wind farm. It gave him the dream of building a wind turbine on the hill where he lived in Gloucestershire.

It took five years of challenges and appeals before he managed to get planning permission. The next hurdle Vince faced was selling the power. The energy sector had not been deregulated and the price he was offered to supply the national grid was lower than he wanted. Undaunted, he came up with a bold solution. “The only way to make the venture work was to cut out the middleman and reach end-users directly. At that time the electricity industry was just liberalising and it was possible to get a supplier licence.”

The company he created, Ecotricity, has grown rapidly and now incorporates a wind-development arm, which deals with the turbines, and a retail arm, which delivers the energy to customers. In 2007 alone Ecotricity invested £25m in wind energy. In 2007-8 it made a £1.9m profit on £28m sales. It has £37.8m net assets and has been valued at more than £100m. Cautiously, in this difficult climate, we value Vince, 48, at £85m.

2: ANDREW OWENS and ALEX LEWIS Greenergy £50m

Andrew Owens formerly an oil trader, invested £300,000 in 1992 to set up Greenergy to supply what was, at the time, a new concept: low-sulphur petrol. As the oil giants muscled in on his niche, the Welshman, who had worked for Esso and Petrotrade, decided the company needed to focus on carbon itself.

Greenergy now makes car fuel from oilseed rape. By buying oil from the Continent, South America, Russia and Africa and mixing low–carbon versions for supermarket pumps, it has grown with its customers, the largest of which is Tesco. In 2007-8, Greenergy made £21.1m profit on £1.7 billion sales.

Owens, 47, and his wife Alex Lewis, 46, a former lobbyist who is the company’s communications chief, have a 33.1% stake worth perhaps £50m.

3: LEE COTTINGHAM and FAMILY Mark Group £45m

The Leicester-based Mark Group began insulating homes in 1974 and recognised that for most householders this is the first step to saving energy, money and carbon emissions. Now it helps to make more than 3,000 homes more energy efficient every week.

In 2005 the co-founder, John Cottingham, handed control to his son Lee, now 34, after more than three decades in charge. Since then, nationwide expansion has grown the business from 4 depots to 14. Customers range from homeowners to local councils and utility companies.

In 2008-9, profits hit a record £8.8m on sales of £97.6m. Mark Group should easily be worth £45m. The Cottingham family owns it all.

4: ROY MacGREGOR and FAMILY Global Energy Group £45m

Global Energy Group makes, repairs and inspects infrastructure for clients such as British Gas and Trans-ocean. The company, based in Inverness and Aberdeen, has projects ranging from refurbishing equipment on oil rigs to assembling turbines for a wind farm in Scotland.

Roy MacGregor, the chairman, started out in his family’s supermarket operation. That was sold in 1985, when the family had already branched out into recruitment, property and supplying food and other products to oil platforms in the Cromarty Firth. The supply work became the basis of MacGregor Energy Services, which he launched in 1986. It was sold to 3i, the venture capitalist, in 1997 for about £20m.

MacGregor became involved in football as chairman of local club Ross County. In 2005 he started up in business again, founding Global Energy, and has grown it by acquisition. In 2007-8 it made £5.8m profit on £94.3m sales. He stepped down as chairman of Ross County in April but continues as life president.

5=: IAIN DORRITY PV Crystalox Solar £38m

PV Crystalox Solar, which makes silicon wafers for solar roof panels, joined the main stock market in 2007. It is now one of the biggest listed green companies, though the recent stock-market turmoil hit its shares and it is now worth £331m, against £640m in January 2008.

The Oxfordshire business was set up in 1982 and now has about 250 staff. The solar power market is growing at a rate of 30%-35% a year.

About 75% of the production goes to Japan, while the rest is sent to Germany where it is processed into wafers for the European market. Iain Dorrity, 57, the chief executive, joined Crystalox in 1986 and was a member of the management buyout team that acquired the business in 1994. He sold £20m of shares in the float and today has a stake worth £25.8m. After tax, Dorrity should be worth £38m.

5=: BARRY GARRARD PV Crystalox Solar £38m

Barry Garrard, technical director at the company, has a stake worth £24.5m. He sold £27m of shares at the float and afterwards.

7: GRAHAM YOUNG PV Crystalox Solar £30m

Graham Young, a shareholder in the solar power group, has an £8.8m stake. He sold shares worth about £8.7m at the float. With other assets, Young should be worth about £12m after tax.

8: STUART OLDHAM PV Crystalox Solar £22m

Like Graham Young, a shareholder in PV Crystalox Solar, Stuart Oldham has a £15.6m stake. At the float he sold shares worth £13m. His fortune totals about £22m.

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