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News article2 August 2022Directorate-General for Communication

Jennes: a climate-conscious car dealership

We caught up with Rudi Jennes, a Belgian entrepreneur who owns Jennes Garage, a car dealership with five different locations across Belgium, boasting more than 200 employees and using an array of innovative solutions to clean up his energy footprint.

Car dealership using solar panels

What drives your ambition to reduce your carbon footprint?

Honestly, I don’t know much about the Paris Agreement targets. As an entrepreneur, I see energy savings as cost reductions. Energy costs a lot of money, and it has been going up and up in recent times. I want to work efficiently and remain profitable with investments in the future, so investing in energy efficiency and savings now makes good business sense.

What are some of the innovative solutions have you installed in your dealerships?

I have invested in fast charging stations for battery electric vehicles in one of my locations, because I have over 1000 solar panels on site. During the weekends, when the site isn’t open, I sell the energy generated by the on-site solar panels via the charging station.

We have also invested in 140m boreholes and heat pumps in our Kampenhout premises, which allow us to maintain a constant temperature of 22 degrees. That means no need for air conditioning in summer or heating in winter.

And what about you personally, are you also taking measures in your own life?

Well, as a company we are heavily investing in electric cars, and I have also taken the plunge. It has been three years since I traded in my combustion engine for an electric vehicle, and I am very happy with the performance!

Details

Publication date
2 August 2022
Author
Directorate-General for Communication