GAA Clubs
The Green Club Programme was launched in 2020 and began with a pilot project with GAA clubs from across the island of Ireland, structured around the five themes of Energy, Waste, Water, Biodiversity and Travel and Transport. The project’s objective was to work with local authorities and expert partners throughout the pilot phase to develop and refine a Green Club Toolkit that will then be rolled out to GAA, Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football clubs and grounds across the island.
Action Renewables was one of the expert partners involved and under our charitable objectives was delighted to provide consultancy expertise in the form of energy audits on five of the Ulster clubs in the pilot and delivery of energy management workshops.
The aim of the engagement across the pilot period was for clubs to establish a baseline, identify opportunities, plan and begin implementation of infrastructure, awareness or behavioural change projects.
Our consultants completed energy audits for the five clubs across the Fermanagh & Omagh, Causeway Coast & Glens, Newry, Mourne & Down and Belfast City council areas. These audits included a review of electricity tariffs, analysis of energy consumption throughout a normal year, pre-pandemic, and identification of seasonal peak demands and significant energy users such as flood lighting and hospitality facilities. Energy performance was also benchmarked for each club in relation to published figures.
Opportunities for reduction of energy consumption were identified and the feasibility of renewable energy technologies was evaluated and presented along with potential funding avenues.
The energy audit process was complimented by running three energy management workshops, with representatives from each club, which included:
- Energy audit results and establishing an energy baseline for your club
- Identifying opportunities, implementing an energy action plan, monitoring, review and benchmarking performance
- Overview of renewable energy technologies, and case study examples from solar photovoltaic (PV) installer guest.
During the next stage of the Green Club programme, which is currently in progress, GAA will develop and refine a Green Club ‘toolkit’ for each thematic area with resources such as easily replicable templates and case studies, which will be freely available to all Gaelic Games units.