Hever Castle is committed to become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient and is in the process of replacing old equipment with more energy efficient solutions. An application for a grant from Defra has been successful and work on building the new biomass woodchip heating system for the castle, the Moat Restaurant, The Hever Shop and several other estate properties is under way.
The site for the boiler room and woodchip store has been cleared and six months fuel has already been delivered. The fuel mostly consists of thinnings from local woods, as well as the grounds here at Hever Castle, together with off-cuts – slab wood from two different local sawmills. As the project commences, we hope to provide some photographs on this page showing the different construction stages. Unfortunately the boiler will not be delivered until early September. However, we can proceed with erecting the buildings for the boiler and the wood store and also the rather slow work of installing all the pipework to the various different properties that will be serviced by the boiler.
In our last update, we mentioned that we had commissioned a hydro power feasibility study to take power from the outfall of the lake. This is currently on hold until the biomass is fully up and running. We are still keen to pursue this project, but even with the high price of energy, the return is very marginal. However, if the price of energy continues to rise and technology improves, we are still hopeful that a hydro power system will be installed in the next five years.
Hever Castle is also pleased to announce that it has developed a new special relationship with Phillips, the electronics company, who are working with the castle to gradually introduce improved energy efficient lighting throughout the site.
All these measures together will dramatically reduce the carbon footprint that Hever Castle has and hopefully go some way to giving our visitors some comfort that Hever Castle is a destination that is committed to being greener.
Updated 20.05.2008