The five star Dromoland Castle in Newmarket-On-Fergus in County Clare, first built in the 16th Century, is on course to be one of Ireland’s first carbon neutral hotels. Part of the exclusive Dromoland Collection portolio of hotels, Dromoland Castle last year embarked on a pioneering ‘2011 Carbon Neutrality Project’ which is being overseen and managed on a voluntary basis by hotel staff.
Since its launch, the project has secured a significant reduction in carbon emissions, achieved largely through moving to woodchip for all the hotel’s heating and hot water requirements, overhauling its recycling channels and switching to Airtricity for a renewable energy supply. The hotel has declared that it was ahead of target to become 100% carbon neutral by 2011.
The eco -friendly hotel recently invited dozens of local Clare schoolchildren to help staff plant 500 trees in the 410 acre estate, part of an annual ‘Tree Planting Programme’ commitment whereby 500 native trees will be planted every year to help negate the carbon emissions of the greatly reduced fossil fuel that the hotel must use to operate. The Tree Planting Programme is being run jointly in association with Dundrum Nurseries