Killary Adventure - Reducing our environmental impact

Here at Killary we care about the environment and how we leave our mark on it, as a result of this we think a lot about different ways of reducing our footprint on the pristine environment where we live.  Over the past number of years we have been pro active in how we approach the question of how to deal with our waste and our use of fossil fuels.  Here is a brief summary of what we are doing at present.

Wind energy

5 years ago we brought a 15 kw wind turbine from a company in Scotland called Proven, we have had a lot of problems with it and it has probably run for about 2 years out of the last 5 however when it goes it makes a large difference to our energy bills.  At the moment it is not running due to a design fault and Proven going into administration.  We have sourced a new supplier and hope to get it up and running in the next couple of months.

Biomass Boiler

We have just purchased a new 200kw wood fired boiler to run all the heating and hot water in our accommodation centre.  This is in the process of being installed and will be up and running by the end of May, we have already bought the loads of wood of Coillte and it is drying and should be ready for use by June.  It is a lot more work than a basic gas boiler as we will have to cut all the wood up ourselves and move it.  It is not to make our life easier but rather to try something different then just turning the dial on a gas machine.

Recycling @ Killary

At present we recycle as much of our normal waste streams as possible.  The result is that our waste bills have actually dropped by 150 euro on the same period last year.  This is not something you can do overnight but rather something that we have ingrained into our staff over a long period of time.  We finally feel that everybody is now buying into the system and that the benefits are there for us all to see. 

Along with making a difference within our own company we try to help out the local community.  This month we have done trips up and down the fjord to try and collect some of the rubbish that gets washed up on the shoreline in the form of buoys and blue barrels from the mussel rafts on the Killary.  We also have a county council bring centre on our property doing glass and cans, and a separate company who have an old clothes bin.  It amazes us every day the amount of clothes left behind by kids when they leave here.  I would estimate we have, in busy periods, up to 1 black bag a day of left property. All of this goes into the bin and is picked up and brought off to a charity shop one every 3 weeks.

Company vehicles

We are also currently exploring ways of replacing our existing golf buggy, which we use between our accommodation and activity sites, with an electric vehicle or bicycle.  Subject to finding something that is reliable and not crazy expensive.

We welcome any advice and tips from people out there who have ideas or thought on how we can improve our ideas.  Please contact me at shane@killary.com