Local Monks Benefit From Wood Pellet Fuel

Rising costs and environmental  concerns have encouraged local  monks to invest in a wood pellet  boiler fuelled by Co. Fermanagh  produced brites, which has helped  them significantly reduce their  carbon emissions and save 40%  in the last twelve months on their  energy bills.  Based on the banks of the River  Bann, Our Lady of Bethlehem  Abbey in Portglenone was built in  1962 to house 70 Cistercian  monks and as an active cultural  centre welcomes several thousand  visitors each year.  A 350kw wood pellet boiler was  installed in the monastery in March  2009 and it is the only monastery  in Ireland to use brites, which  provides all the heating and hot  water requirements including the  under floor heating in the monastic  church.  Father Aelred Magee, who led the  monastery in the move towards  renewable energy, commented:  “Our motivation to install a wood  pellet boiler fuelled by brites was  twofold – firstly, for financial  reasons as we had been  using oil and wanted to save  money, and secondly for  environmental reasons as  we wanted a cleaner source  of energy.  “The monastery is a very  large building, providing self  contained accommodation and  facilities for all our monks, so we  have a vast volume of space to  heat. It is also very much a  building which reflects the style of  architecture of the 1960’s, being  made of concrete, brick and glass,  so while it is listed and very  striking, the insulation is not very  good and therefore we have a  large heating requirement.”  Father Aelred continued: “Having  made the move to renewable  energy I would not look back as we  are benefitting from substantial  savings on our energy bills of over  £7,000 annually.  “Using brites is very easy as they  are fed automatically into the boiler  via self feed auger and because  they are high quality pellets. I only  need to empty the ash pan every  three weeks in the winter and  every six weeks in the summer.  The ash collected is then used as  a fertiliser in our gardens.  He concluded: “I would certainly  recommend a wood pellet boiler  and brites to anyone who is  considering an alternative way of  having their heating and hot water  supplied.”  Paula Keelagher, Market  Development Manager, brites,  said: “Through our work at the  Abbey we have been able to get to  know the monks including Father  Aelred, and we are delighted that  brites are working well for them  and helping them to save money  and reduce their carbon footprint  by offsetting 38 tonnes of carbon  and 141 tonnes of CO2 in the last  year alone.”