Belmore Court & Motel: Pioneering the Path to Carbon Neutral
In a world growing increasingly conscious of environmental concerns, we feel it’s not only despired, but an imperative for businesses to adopt sustainable practices.
At Belmore Court & Motel, we grasped the concept of protecting our local environment relatively early in our operations, beginning to implement more considerable sustainability initiatives in 2013!
Since then, we have gone beyond meeting the minimum standards to ensure our activities have no negative environmental impact. We’ve taken further steps to make a positive contribution to our surroundings, helping to preserve the beauty of our local environment for generations to come, and moving steadily along in our path to Carbon Neutral.
Let's talk progress..
Belmore Court & Motel’s path to carbon neutral has been making excellent progress, on track for our target!
Just a few years ago (2021/22), Belmore Court & Motel produced 45.2 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Today? We’re down to just 6.9 tonnes. That’s an 85% reduction!
We’re not stopping there. Our goal is to reach carbon net zero by 2035. That means we’ll produce no carbon emissions at all. We have checkpoints along the way to make sure we stay on track. By April 2026, we want to cut our remaining emissions to zero whilst keeping our carbon use below 2.0 kg for each room booking.
This is our path to carbon neutral, and we’re taking it one step at a time.
Clean energy
Solar energy
In the development of our extension back in 2013, owner and manager Terry knew that with the accommodation growing in size, extra steps needed to be taken to reduce its carbon footprint. Here started our solar panel journey, beginning our commitment to renewable energy resources!
Solar panels harness the power of the sun to generate electricity, reducing their dependence on fossil fuels and lowering their overall energy costs. This initiative not only benefits the environment but also positions the hotel as a forward-thinking and responsible business.
Solar panels on our roof now generate 27.28 MWh of electricity every year. That’s enough to power guest rooms, kitchens, and everything in between. We’re not relying on fossil fuels anymore.
Here’s our favourite part: we’ve added a large battery that stores extra solar power. When the sun isn’t shining, we use the stored energy. This means clean electricity round the clock, not just when it’s sunny.
energy supplier
In recent years, we made the switch to a certified 100% renewable energy supplier. This single change cut 30 tonnes of carbon from our annual footprint.
Every light you switch on and every phone you charge uses clean energy when you stay at Belmore Court & Motel, this means not only are you helping us achieve our carbon usage goals- you’re reducing your own carbon footprint as you stay!
Responsible heating
One of our more significant feats is switching our primary heat source to a 99kW biomass boiler! Rather than oil or gas, that contribute to carbon emissions, this boiler burns sustainable wood pellets, chips and logs, reducing our reliance on conventional heating methods.
The importance of transitioning from LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) to SGN Natural Gas, a cleaner and more sustainable option, for our secondary energy source also became immediately clear. This change has allowed us to further reduce our carbon footprint while maintaining a reliable and environmentally responsible backup energy supply.
We’ve also installed smart heating controls that warm rooms only when they’re occupied, eliminating wasted energy in empty spaces. This approach not only reduces energy waste but also enhances guest comfort by providing customizable heating options. In our motel rooms, guests can even adjust their radiators through an easy-to-use app, enjoying comfort when it’s needed and carbon-footprint savings when it’s not!
Saving water every day
Water conservation is another area we have been excelling in during this path to carbon neutral.
By using less water, our guests reduce the energy we need to heat, treat and pump our water, effectively reducing the carbon emissions emitted during these processes!
HOW ARE WE DOING THIS?
Low-flow showerheads, taps, and toilets can significantly decrease the water used in everyday activities.
- Low-flow Shower Heads give you that same great shower, all whilst using less water at a 50% flow reduction
- Dual-flush Toilets in every bathroom let our guests choose how much water to use. Older toilets can use up to a whopping 30 litres per flush, while our new models can use as little as 4 litres
- Instant Water Heaters: Present in every room, these mean you get hot water immediately without us having to keep a huge tank hot all day
Did You Know? A leaking loo has the potential to waste 400 litres of water every day! Prompt fixture of leaks is a staple in our routine maintenance, and remains one of our simplest, yet effective, methods of saving water.
HOW do we measure this?
At Belmore Court, water metre readings are carried out on a monthly basis to track and measure consumption patterns. At present, we are sat at 0.24 litres per room night, with targets to reduce this to just 0.20 litres per room night by April 2026!
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
We encourage guests to participate by turning off taps when not in use, taking shorter showers, reporting any leaks to the management immediately, and checking out the water-saving tips provided in their rooms!
Towel and Linen Reuse Programmes
These easy, and highly effective, programmes allow guests choose whether they require fresh towels and sheets every day. Most guests are happy to use their towels more than once, just like you do at home, reducing the need for daily laundry. It saves thousands of litres of water in laundry each year, along with the energy needed to heat that water and run the machines.
We place info-graphics in each bathroom, explaining the environmental benefits the programme and how guests could participate. Simply hang your towel up to reuse it, or leave it on the floor if you’d like a fresh one.
Within the First Year:
- 20% less laundry loads, saving 100,000 litres of water
- Energy saved (heating water and running dryers) was equivalent to powering 4 average homes for a year
- Overwhelmingly positive feedback from guests
WHats next?
According to our most recent Green Tourism assessment, where we achieved the honour of their Green Tourism Gold Award, our water conservation rating came to 72% showing potential for further intervention!
We have plans in the woodwork for future rainwater harvesting systems and exploring greywater recycling.
zero waste
Since 2013, we have been proud to say that absolutely nothing from Belmore Court & Motel ends up in landfill, diverting 100% of waste from landfill through recycling, composting, and responsible waste management. That’s our zero-waste promise.
Your Room?
- We’ve replaced small plastic toiletry bottles in bathrooms with refillable dispensers. One large bottle instead of hundreds of tiny ones.
- In-room water bottles switched to high-quality glass bottle, refillable at any time
At Breakfast?
- Breakfast cereals from bulk containers, not individual boxes.
- Food waste from breakfast gets composted and turned into soil. By September 2026, we’ll be composting on-site.
- Removing all single-use plastics from breakfast service by April 2026. Real plates, real glasses, nothing thrown away.
Paperless? We can be:
- Your receipt? We can email it to you instead of printing it, you can also check-in digitally!
- Newspapers/Magazines? Check out PressReader for free digitalised reading during your stay
This approach to the path to carbon neutral means looking at everything we use and asking: can we reuse it, recycle it, or do without it?
environmental travel accommodations
Did You Know? Electric Vehicles emit up to 35% less carbon dioxide compared to standard gasoline cars!
Five WEEV electric vehicle charging stations are available for use at Belmore Court, meaning you can charge your car whilst you stay with us. Our own company vehicles are electric too. We practice what we preach.
Don’t have an electric car but still want to get involved in the path to carbon neutral? No problem! We provide bus timetables and information about public transport, feel free to reach out!. We also have secure bike storage if you’re cycling through Fermanagh.
Getting here without a car is part of the path to carbon neutral. We want to make that as easy as possible.
what our guests think
Between January and June 2025, we asked 597 guests about our green efforts. The results made us proud:
That’s not our opinion—that’s what you told us.
Every choice you make during your stay contributes to our path to carbon neutral. LED lights throughout the building use a fraction of the electricity that old bulbs did. Sensors in corridors mean lights only come on when someone’s there. Digital check-in reduces paper waste.
Small changes add up. When 597 guests make those choices, the impact is huge.
measuring carbon
We track our carbon emissions every month using specialist software called CarbonFit. This isn’t guesswork. By knowing exactly how much energy and water is consumed, we spot problems quickly and fix them fast.
2021 Average: 27 kWh/room per night
2025 Average: 18.01kWh/room per night
We initially set a target for 2026, which as of 2025 we have already massively succeeded by 28%!
Every year, we review our entire path to carbon neutral plan. New technology appears. Better methods are developed. We investigate them, test them, and if they work, we use them. This is what the path to carbon neutral looks like in practice: constant monitoring, constant improvement.
the road ahead
We’ve cut emissions by 85%. That’s fantastic progress on our path to carbon neutral. But there’s still work to do between now and 2035.
Through innovative energy solutions, responsible resource management, and transparent metrics, we feel we have set a high standard for sustainability in the hospitality industry and plan on continuing this for generations to come.
Every year brings new possibilities, and new challenges to conquer. Our path to Carbon Neutral continues to evolve as technology improves and as we learn from experience.
path to carbon neutral faq
Curious about your own environmental impact? Several Free Online Carbon Footprint Calculators can do exactly that, based on your travel, energy use, and lifestyle choices.
Understanding your impact is the first step on your own path to carbon neutral. Once you know your footprint, you can do something about it.
Choose our Green Getaway package.
This offer gives you a sustainable hotel experience AND actively offsets your carbon emissions by planting a tree for every single booking.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, helping to balance out the emissions from your journey to us.
It’s a simple way to take action whilst enjoying your Fermanagh break.
