Environmental update 

Wind Turbine

Our 15kw Proven wind turbine has been up and running for 6 months now and has produced over 13000kwh over the summer period. This equates to enough energy to power an average 4-person home for a year. Impressive when you consider that June and July were lacking in wind, however this was more than made up for by May and August, which were at the other end of the scale.

This was achieved with 11Kw blades on the turbine as Proven are having technical difficulties with the larger blades. This means that next year we hope to have the larger blades working and produce even more power further reducing fuel costs and our reliance on fossil fuels.
 

Food Waste

We have also been composting all our food waste, a difficult task when you consider the number of people, especially children, we have coming through here. After a number of teething problems we now have a solid system in place, which allows us to take the food from our kitchen and dining room and compost all of it. This has helped to bring down our waste bills and reuse left over food as otherwise it makes for heavy, smelly bins!

Alongside this we have been educating the kids and our staff about the value of recycling and colourful recycling bins can be seen decorating the Killary campus. 

Down on the 'The Farm'

On the home front we have installed both solar vacuum tubes and insulated the cavities/roof under the SEI scheme. This I have to say has been a great success and very measurable during the long cold spell. Using only wood and coal we were able to keep warm in the house. After doing the calculations and some research we are also hoping to install a combined log wood and pellet stove of approx. 32 kW. This will not burn coal but our wood supply is strong and pellets are available from the local co-op.

We have had our own chickens for several years now and even though they are getting into their formative years, with the help of some new stock they are still producing enough eggs to supply our demand. We are also exploring getting some geese to give even more variety and colour to the garden while also harvesting their delicious eggs.
 
Our three horses are also doing well and are now living in their more sheltered winter grazing. Saoirse, our foal born in spring, is now almost 8 months old and growing into a bold and curious yearling under the expert supervision of the other two. Maura, her mother, is an excellent parent who's kind nature and laid back temperament are counter to her favourite playmate, our young feisty, filly Storm.

Watching these Connemara ponies in their natural environment is a real pleasure and you can certainly see why these native ponies (like the local people) have a hardy reputation. 

Hoping to be carbon neutral this year in the house, no results on alternative fuels for vehicles and outboards yet but we are still exploring! We will be continuing to look at our energy requirements and waste stream and how to economically deal with these, as I hope everybody is.

Green Future

In relation to our energy policy we are looking at a number of different ways to replace our gas boilers. All of our hot water is gas heated and with the price of this commodity going up it is Killary's aim to become more self-sufficient. We are exploring the possibilities of replacing it with a wood pellet boiler or a combined pellet and log burner to take advantage of our extensive woodlands. The other option is a straw bale burner which can pretty much incinerate anything, a good example of this model is Pat Lee. However these are all still in the planning stage but we hope to have more updates in 2012.

We believe passionately in recycling here at Killary and nothing is too big! The old wind turbine is going to have a new lease of life in the form of a water wheel. The old 15Kw Proven machine, which was replaced earlier this year is going to be explored as an ingenious way of retaining power from the rich (and plentiful) waters of Connemara. This is still in the planning stages but certainly presents an exciting project. Luckily we have a family member studying engineering!

We'll keep you up to date!