Our Heating & Hot Water

  • We use BioLPG, which is made from 100% renewable sources, to heat and provide hot water for the Killary Lodge.
  • Our main centre & office building is heated by a Biomass boiler. It uses logs grown in our local forest and transported less than 5km to our wood storage area. The wood dries there for 1 year before it is split into smaller logs to be fed into the boiler.

Our Electricity

  • Onsite at our main centre & office building is a Kingspan 4KW wind turbine. This produces on average 30% of the electricity used in the building.
  • LED bulbs are used throughout the Killary Lodge building to reduce electricity usage.

Catering

  • We work with the Misunderstood Heron a local catering company. They use locally sourced produce where possible. For example the mussels are grown in the Killary Fjord, the lamb is Connemara mountain lamb sourced from a local farmer. Everything they serve is homemade fresh every day.

Our Food Waste

  • 100% of our food waste is composted. Everything produced by guest of the Killary Lodge goes into an onsite Ridan composter. The compost is then used in our polytunnel to grow herbs that are used in our kitchens and to produce enough vegetables to feed 4 families who live onsite.

Electric Vehicles

  • We use an Electric golf buggy to transport staff and cleaning supplies between our main base and the Killary Lodge and Adventure Activity site.

Recycling & Waste Reduction

  • We no longer put plastic bin bags in bedroom bins. This is to reduce our use of single use plastic (with exception of bathroom bins which do have bags).
  • Biodegradable bin bags are used in the kitchen waste bins.
  • We do not provide single use bottles of shampoo/soap etc in either of our properties. All of our waste is sorted (cardboard/paper, recyclable, general, cans, bottles etc) to reduce what goes to landfill. All our guests are asked to do this where possible. We have a glass and can recycling centre onsite located at the our main building.

Cleaning Products

  • All of the cleaning products we use in the Lodge are environmentally friendly. We purchase the products concentrated and in bulk. This allows us to refill and reuse smaller dispenser’s throughout our cleaning department greatly reducing our plastic waste.

Our Buildings

  • Our buildings are designed and built to reduce heat loss thus conserving energy.
  • The Killary Lodge is designed to bring the outside inside with large windows allowing guests to enjoy the landscape and surrounding whilst inside the comfort of the building.

Our Business

  • We operate self-guided Cycling & Walking Tours in Connemara. We encourage tourists to walk and cycle, rather than drive, around our beautiful landscape.
  • We use local accommodation providers, local taxi companies and promote local tourism businesses to our clients.
  • We operate an events company which runs events, many in the shoulder and off season, in Connemara. These bring a huge boost to the local economy.

Corporate Social Responsibility & Our Community

  • We live and operate a business in a rural community in Connemara. We support and are involved in the creation of the events benefiting the local tourism & business community such as the Connemara Mountain Walking Festival. We support local community events such as Water Sports day which raises money for children at risk, Leenane Five Mile raising money for our local Cardiac Response Unit.
  • We were instrumental in the creation and opening of a local crèche facilitating the child care of our employees and families living in the local community
  • We try to build a sense of adventure and active lifestyle with children in our local community. We provided facilities to our local Kayak club and our local primary school brings the children to our adventure centre weekly during the summer school term.
  • Groups from our local direct provision centre come for a 24h stay with us to get them outside and active.

Our Awards

  • 2017 Winner Sustainable Energy Business Award- SFA National Small Business Awards
  • 2016 Winners Best Small Business - Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Awards
  • 2016 Finalist - SFA National Small Business Awards