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Green Horizon provides a complete range of energy efficiency and green building solutions for home owners and businesses.
Bobby Ferrel might be described as a reluctant environmentalist. Although quick to offer the disclaimer that he is "not a tree hugger by trade," he has also made career choices that demonstrate a greater social conscience than he gives himself credit for. He is convinced that sustainability is a vital issue and that "we will all need to do more with less. If we don't, we're all in trouble."
Bobby grew up in the Miami area as the son of an airline pilot. His family bought a vacation home in Linville, NC, and they eventually relocated to NC permanently. A business graduate of UNC, Bobby had experience in several areas, including a long sojourn in the paper industry. During this period he saw the evolution of recycling from an expensive novelty to an efficient, economical and widely supported social and business practice.
Imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit, Bobby began looking for a sector in which to open his own company, finally settling on the construction industry, in which energy efficiency concerns were, and to a large degree still are, undervalued and underserved. In 2007 he opened Green Horizon, focusing at first on the contractor side of the business. He quickly learned that cost reduction was the dominant operating principal and shortly changed orientation towards the homeowner.
A fortuitous contact with a gentleman who did energy audits for homeowners led Green Horizon into becoming a "one stop" source for all the items and services owners would need to improve the energy efficiency of their existing homes, including crawl space sealing, insulation, weatherization and HVAC including geothermal systems.
Bobby first learned about Clean Energy Durham when he sealed a crawl space in the home of the Executive Director. Bobby admired Clean Energy Durham's approach to educating homeowners as to what they could do themselves to improve the energy efficiency of their property. He recognized potential synergy, because Green Horizon provided those services that do-it-yourselfers could not, or would not, do. He became an early and on-going supporter of Clean Energy Durham.
While devoted to his business, Bobby is even more so to his family, including three boys: 13, 11 and 8. With all of them involved in sports, Bobby spends a lot of time with school and sports related activities. An avid golfer, he also shares this with his sons and relishes these years when they still value their contact with him.
Bobby credits his sons with being more informed about and invested in environmental issues, and he feels the schools are doing a good job of fostering these concerns. As they transmit their knowledge and motivation to him, this family becomes a good example of the kind of positive feedback loop by means of which "green" consciousness spreads.
Clearly, one needn't be a "tree hugger" to be a force for sustaining the environment.
--Profile by Clean Energy Durham Volunteer Martin Eagle
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Clean Energy Durham grew out of a partnership with the Durham County Cooperative Extension Service. Formed in 2002 as an advisory committee working with Cooperative Extension and the Million Solar Roofs Initiative, it originally had the name "Durham Initiative for Renewable Energy Community Taskforce." Its name was changed to "Clean Energy Durham" in 2005, and in May 2007, Clean Energy Durham was incorporated in North Carolina as a non-profit corporation. Find out more at http://www.cleanenergydurham.org
2030 Society members have pledged multi-year support and recognize Clean Energy Durham as a community leader helping the city and county reach their goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by the year 2030.
