Chips fire-up Cumbria park’s green energy drive

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Pool users taking the plunge at Cumbria’s Silverdale holiday park are leaving some of the smallest possible footprints on the natural environment.

That’s because the blissful temperature of the pool’s clear waters is now being maintained entirely by green energy from sustainable forest timber.

The pool is being heated by a super-efficient biomass boiler using woodchips which create almost no carbon footprint when they are burned.

Silverdale’s powerful 200Kw boiler also heats the park’s entire leisure centre including its gymnasium, restaurant, bar, shop, bowling alley and offices.

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The woodchips have been sourced from the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, and recycled from offcuts of timber used in construction and to make furniture.

Their ability to minimise their moisture content and reduce emissions.

The upshot, says business owner Michael Holgate, is that its biomass boiler is now an even greener alternative to generating heat with electricity:

“We have been looking for some time for a small family firm like ours which we could work with to maximise the efficiency of our clean energy programme,” said Michael.

“Now we have partnered with a long established farming family in the Forest of Bowland which has exactly the approach we were looking for in the way it produces woodchips.

“A long period of seasoning achieves a far less polluting burn and generates greater heat output.

“Our policy has always been to run Silverdale along sustainable lines, and we’re proud that the heating of the pool and our leisure centre is now more eco-friendly than ever,” added Michael.

Silverdale and the five other holiday parks belonging to protect the natural environment.

There is more information about Holgates parks at www.holgates.co.uk