Alternate Energy

Ballymaloe House, Farm and Gardens - Drone (3)

A History Of Green Energy

When our historic country house was opened to the public as a restaurant in 1964, Ivan Allen was already looking at sustainable ways of doing things. This way of thinking at this determination to do things differently is still a cornerstone of everything we do across every department.

If there is a technology, a technique or a new green theory, we will look at it and look at making it a central part of what we do. This is particularly relevant in how we make, use and store energy across Ballymaloe House Hotel.

Biomass Boiler

In 1984, Ivan’s son Rory purchased Ballymaloe’s first biomass straw boiler. In the decades since, our biomass boiler has been our main source of energy. Using locally grown straw, it provides our hot water and heating for Ballymaloe House, the outbuildings, the farm and the swimming pool.

In 2020, we upgraded our biomass boiler so that it provides even more efficient energy. Powered by straw bales that are not suitable for animals, each has an equivalent of 200 litres of oil. Without our biomass boiler, we estimate over 600,000 litres of oil would have been burnt over the past 40 years.

Solar Panels

In 2021, we installed 147Kw of PV solar panels on the roofs of existing farm buildings. They produce a massive 600KWH of power per day, which represents a third of our overall daily energy consumption. In fact, we were 50% independent of the ESB nation grid in 2022. *more recent stats needed*

We use some of these solar panels to provide you with charging points for your electric vehicle in our car park. LED lighting is used throughout the property, saving CO2 energy, and many common areas use sensor-based lights.