Sustainability at The Irish National Heritage Park

Sustainability at The Irish National Heritage Park

We have always been mindful of our environmental impact at The Irish National Heritage Park. Back in 2013 we decided to become more proactive and find ways to measure and improve our performance. To help us, we partnered with EcoMerit. They carried out a comprehensive review of our environmental performance and practices. This led to the creation of our very first improvement plan, and since then, we have never looked back!

Carbon Footprint

Down 56%

Water Usage

Down 26%

Waste Creation

Down 35%

(All progress figures independently verified by EcoMerit.)

Every year we review progress on our plan and set ourselves new improvement actions. Real, measurable environmental action has never been more important, and we are determined to play our part in full. The above figures show our progress at the most recent review with EcoMerit.

Notable Achievements

Our performance improvement over the years is the result of a large number of actions, many of them small and simple in themselves, and all requiring the support of our staff. Some of our most impactful actions include:

  • Upgrading our lighting to energy-efficient LED units throughout the park.
  • Installing solar photo-voltaic panels to generate our own electricity on-site.
  • Upgrading our loft insulation to meet modern standards.
  • Adopting a ‘leave no trace’ policy to encourage visitors to take their rubbish home.
  • Introducing reusable drinks containers for use by staff and hosted training groups.
  • Installing sensor-controlled urinals to reduce water usage.
  • Fitting flow restrictors to our wash-basin taps.

Our Carbon Footprint

One of our key performance measures is our carbon footprint.

Carbon Footprint at The National Heritage Park

All figures verified by EcoMerit. EcoMerit members’ carbon footprint must include Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

This improvement was achieved against the backdrop of increasing visitor numbers. Without our commitment to environmental improvement, our carbon footprint would have increased considerably rather than reduced.

Note that the very low figures for 2020 and 2021 were due to the effects of Covid. 2023 saw a partial closure of the Irish National Heritage Park site to allow major refurbishment works to proceed. It also, therefore, cannot be viewed as a representative year.

Our latest figures, for 2024, give a fair representation of where we are today. We are delighted to see that our carbon footprint is now 56% lower than when we started our programme in 2013. We have already outperformed the target set by the International Paris Accord, which asks for a 50% reduction by 2030.

Irish National Heritage Park - EcoMerit Certified

“Here at the Irish National Heritage Park we are custodians of living history. In addition to our responsibility for the past, we have a responsibility for the future. We are committed to continually reducing our negative impacts on the environment and increasing our positive impacts. By making our performance publicly available, we aim to encourage others to do likewise.”

The Irish National Heritage Park

Waste Performance

We routinely monitor our waste creation and our recycling performance. We have been very successful in reducing our waste over the years and our ‘leave no trace’ policy has been a major factor in this achievement.

Irish National Heritage Park - Waste Performance

Note that the very low figures for 2020 and 2021 were due to the effects of Covid. Likewise, the low figure for 2023 was due to our partial closure for refurbishment works. We are very aware that our recycling performance has dropped off significantly in recent years and this will be given particular attention in the coming year.

Water Performance

Our water monitoring has been compromised by long-term metering issues. As a result, our water usage records are more erratic than might be expected. We have an ongoing project to improve our water monitoring arrangements.

Allowing for the Covid factor in 2020 and 2021, and the partial closedown in 2023, we are now confident that we have in place robust measurement and control of our water use.

Irish National Heritage Park - Water Usage Performance

2023 Upgrade Works

We recently carried out a major upgrade of our main building. Originally, this building was designed for summer use rather than our year-round operations. This upgrade addressed the issue and had a major impact on our energy and water efficiency. Items incorporated include:

  • A new high-insulation roof and upgraded wall insulation.
  • New double-glazed windows.
  • Automatic doors to minimise winter heat loss.
  • Upgrade of heating system with a new gas boiler. Radiant heating units replaced by air-conditioning.
  • Urinals have sensor flush controls.
  • Toilets have dual-flush cisterns.
  • Wash-basin taps are sensor controlled.

Other Sustainability Initiatives

We look for wider improvement opportunities wherever we can find them.

  • We host our own beehives in the park, looked after by our resident bee-keeper. You can buy the delicious results in our shop!
  • We have built our boardwalks from recycled Eco-plastic, which makes positive use of plastic waste and will last longer than traditional timber.
  • Likewise, our picnic benches are made from Eco-plastic.
  • Old boardwalk timber and signage has been re-purposed for alternative use in the park.
  • Visitors can use our water station to refill their water containers rather than buying plastic-bottled water.

The Journey Continues

While we are proud of our achievements to date, we know there will always be more to do. It is our responsibility to play our full part in averting the worst effects of the climate and bio-diversity crises.

In the coming year we will:

  • Continue with our progressive replacement of petrol-powered gardening equipment with battery electric units when due for replacement.
  • Seek to reverse the recent decline in our waste recycling performance.
  • Encourage our restaurant franchisee to give discounts to customers providing their own cups for hot beverages.

Our longer-term ambitions include:

  • A major rebuild of the main park buildings accompanied by a significant extension of the range of park exhibits.
  • Replacing our fossil-fuelled gas heating with a renewable alternative, probably electric heat pumps.
  • Extending our use of solar panels for electricity generation.

“We are proud to be a member of the EcoMerit Community. Our partnership with EcoMerit helps guide us on our sustainability journey and gives us independent verification of our achievements to date.”