IRISH HOTELS WARMING UP TO brites
Hotels across Ireland are saving tens of thousands of Euros on their heating costs and reducing their carbon emissions by opting for eco-friendly investments including wood pellet boilers fuelled by brites. Last year alone the Irish hospitality industry saved almost €5m by taking such steps towards energy efficiency and other resource-saving actions. Increasingly hoteliers are realising that “greening” their properties can also lead to an increase in revenue from increasing their appeal to eco-aware guests.
The Westport Woods Hotel & Spa in Mayo is one such hotel which has wholeheartedly embraced the “green revolution” and acknowledged the appeal that eco friendly hotels can offer to prospective guests. Regarded as “Ireland’s Greenest Hotel” with eco friendly initiatives and measures implemented throughout the property, The Westport Woods also picked up The Green SME Award at the 2010 Green Awards - an award created to acknowledge a 'ground-up' green strategy designed to minimise the impact of their business activity on the environment.
Since switching to brites over four and a half years ago the Westport Woods Hotel & Spa has displaced 330,750 litres of oil by using 675 tonnes of brites resulting in savings of approximately €133,580 at today’s prices (oil at 71 cents per litre). The hotel uses brites in three boilers to heat the main hotel block; the leisure centre and a staff hostel located beside the hotel.
 Michael Lennon, general manager, Westport Woods Hotel & Spa commented: “For over three years we’ve been actively working to make our hotel as green and environmentally friendly as possible and we know that this is an important draw for many of our guests too. We wanted to do our bit for the environment and reduce our carbon emissions and we also appreciate that our guests are now taking additional steps to make their homes more eco-friendly and this way they can continue to reduce their carbon footprint whilst on holiday. By using brites to heat the hotel instead of traditional fossil fuels we have significantly reduced our carbon footprint and we are striving to take this even further and eventually become carbon neutral.”
Paula Keelagher, brites Market Development Manager, comments: “We are delighted that The Westport Woods Hotel has shown its commitment to the environment by using britesto fuel the hotel and its full leisure facilities. This serves to illustrate just how efficient this method of fuel is. Since January 2008 The Westport Woods Hotel & Spa has offset over 820 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 210 tonnes of carbon. We are already supplying brites to 15 hotels throughout Ireland and the UK and we hope that more businesses and homes will see the environmental and economic benefits of using this fuel as part of their energy mix.” | 
"brites are a magnificent company to deal with. I am 100% pleased with both the service and the savings", Mr Henry Bothwell
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