Over the last 16 months, Boynehill house has invested heavily in making its operations more efficient and reducing its Carbon footprint. Apart from installing more efficient heating systems across the Estate and eliminating single use plastics where possible, the company is continually looking for ways to reduce its impact on the environment. Commenting on the rationale for these and other positive actions being taken at Boynehill Estate, Owner and CEO, Caitriona Power says: “I think sometimes as individuals we can feel that the scale of the environmental issues we face are overwhelming, but if small companies such as ours do their bit to reduce the negative impact that they have on the environment then, these small steps can combine to have a broader effect with more positive global outcomes.”
Outlining some of these steps Caitriona goes on to say: “As part of an ongoing 500k upgrade and refurbishment programme, which kicked off in 2017, we have improved our energy efficiency drastically by upgrading the existing heating systems. In the 35 courtyard rooms we have swapped traditional convection heaters for A+ rated infrared heating panels. All rooms have their own thermostats but most importantly we can control the heating system remotely so once our guests have checked-out we are no longer wasting energy by heating empty rooms. This system is also very cost efficient.
“When it came to the Mansion House, heat retention was one of the biggest issues we faced. The Georgian house is spread over 4 stories, with 8 en-suite bedrooms, 2 large reception rooms, a bar and basement. The issue for us here was the heat escaping through the old sash windows. Before tackling the heat we decided to employ Energlaze to fit all existing windows with heat retaining glass, while doing that they refurbished the sashes and we now have all working traditional sash windows. According to their sales pitch “the double glazing is 82% better than the single gazing, eliminating draughts and cold spots”. Before replacing the glass in these sash windows, it was sometimes colder in the house than it was outside!
Caitriona continues; “We then went on to strip out the existing old and inefficient oil boiler and replace it with an up-to-date system with controls on each radiator. The house is now divided into zones and allows us to control the heating remotely avoiding unnecessary and wasteful heating of the house when it is empty.”
“Apart from making significant investment into improving our heating systems we are making smaller changes across all our operations, such as; changing all our lights to low energy bulbs and when replacing any electrical appliances we look for the most modern and energy efficient option. Caitriona concludes by saying; “All in all we feel that over the last 16 months we have made great strides towards lowering our energy emissions but we are constantly looking for more ways to reduce our energy output and benefit from lower heating costs”.
Read the Boynehill Estate blog next month which takes a look at how they are eliminating all single-use plastic from our estate and improving our waste management system.
