KILLARY GREEN

In 2016 Killary Adventure Co was awarded Winner of the Best Small Business Category at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Awards. This was a wonderful recognition to receive for a process which began many years earlier and involved much trial and error, some successes and many adjustments. Here is an outline of our endeavours to protect this incredible natural environment in which we operate by sustainability practices and green initiatives:

• 2000     Construction of the new Killary Adventure Centre accommodation building which was completed using the latest sustainable techniques at the time.  It was the first building in Galway to have a growing grass roof and reed bed filtration system for waste water. 
• 2001     Installation of the first wind turbine on the site of our accommodation base.  It was a 15 KW proven turbine later reduced to 11KW due to a technical fault with the turbine.
• 2003     Installation of recycling bring centre on site for use by our business and the local community.
• 2011     Pumping of all exterior walls in the accommodation block with bead insulation to improve our U value and aid in reducing our gas bill.
• 2012     Installation of 200kw biomass boiler to heat the accommodation and dining areas and to provide hot water for the entire building.
• 2015      Replacement of the original wind turbine with a smaller 6kw unit due to lightning strike on the existing unit.
• 2015     Purchase of electric golf buggy to provide more eco-friendly transport for staff and materials between our two sites.
• 2015     Gradual change over of traditional lighting to LED units with a completion date of 2020 for completion.
• 2016     Changing room showers were changed from electric heating to instant gas water heaters.
• 2016     Installation of ‘Ridan’ composting system which now takes 100% of our food waste.
• 2016     Winners of the Best Small Business Category at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Awards.
• 2017     Winners of the Small Firms Association of Ireland best in Ireland for our sustainability practises
• 2018     Construction of our new Killary Lodge accommodation with intelligent green heating controls and use of bio LPG gas to provide heat and hot water
• 2018     Our old and well worn westuits are being donated to the Upcycled Movement, who turn them into stylish accessoires.