The Carbon Neutral Role

The Carbon Neutral Role Model

Enniskillen-based Balcas is well advanced in its drive and contributions towards zero CO2 emissions. It has nurtured a whole ecosystem in Ireland and it’s ready to help others follow suit, CEO Brian Murphy tells Emma Deighan.

Balcas – a major sawmill and carbon neutral energy provider – sells timber to merchants in NI, the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. “Many readers may very well have some Balcas timber within their house construction, or in their garden,” says Brian, who joined the firm in 1992.

Balcas is also a supplier of wood pellets, a sustainable fuel used in thousands of pellet boilers and wood burning stoves in homes and businesses throughout the UK and Ireland.

Balcas’s history is an illustrious one: they began as a small timber producer that, through a series of acquisitions and investments, turned into the major sawmill and clean energy provider it is today.

The company has rationalised its operation into two strands; Balcas Timber, which is driven from the factory in Fermanagh; and Balcas Energy, an electricity generator based at Enniskillen in NI and at Invergordon in Scotland, producing 95,000 MWh annually that also provides more than 200,000 tonnes of wood pellets into the heating markets of the UK and Ireland.

The company’s macro green story and initiatives are far reaching. Discussing the achievements it has made during a period of challenges for many businesses is “timely”, Brian says. “There is enormous emphasis in today’s world on reducing emissions and Balcas’s carbon neutral pellet fuel is a real and immediate solution in many instances and it is available now.”

“Balcas is a true example of a manufacturing contributor to the circular economy. Every log it uses originates from a sustainably managed forest. The forests throughout Britain and Ireland not only capture carbon but sustain rural jobs and provide leisure and social outlets for our citizens,” says Brian.

“When the forest crop is mature, it stops being a net absorber of CO2 and is ready for harvesting. The logs from the forest are processed into sawn timber which is used in homes and factories as a building material, or in our gardens as fencing, or in the packaging industry primarily for wooden pallets. The sawn timber locks away the carbon it contains far into the future. The branches from the harvested trees rot back into the soil the nutrients support growth of new trees in the crucial first 5 years as the forest is replanted to continue its carbon capture cycle,” he adds.

Following the manufacture of sawn timber, some of the wood fibre left over (sawdust and woodchips) is used to generate electricity to power the factory process: “Nothing is wasted”, Brian tells Ambition.

Balcas generates twice as much electricity as it consumes. The excess heat from the generation process is used in Balcas’ timber drying kilns and to dry more of the left over fibre to convert into wood pellets.

Wood pellets are a carbon neutral fuel that can replace oil and gas. Balcas’s pellets are currently used to heat hospitals, care homes, distilleries, supermarkets, schools, hotels, office buildings, National Trust properties, farms and private homes. And every year Balcas’s wood pellets displace the equivalent of 100m litres of oil. The planting process then restarts the green Balcas cycle.

Planting more trees than are harvested in Britain and Ireland means contributing to the fight against climate change right now, years before the Government’s Zero Net Carbon Emissions deadline.

Further, beyond Balcas’ efforts is a whole ecosystem of animals, plants and social enterprises that benefit. Brian says Ireland’s forestry efforts have boosted and revitalised the red squirrel and hen harrier populations of these islands.

“Modern forestry has learned a lot of lessons over the past 100 years and is continuously evolving to contribute not just to the economy but to take better account of our islands’ needs for management of biodiversity and the wider environment,” he adds.

“At Balcas, we consume approximately one million tonnes (of wood) annually but everything, and more, is grown back so that the cycle can continue into the future.”

Balcas’s self-sufficiency story dates back to 2006 when it stopped importing electricity for its mill. Its purpose-built CHP (Combined Heat and Power) and Pellet Plant facility in Scotland was commissioned in 2009.

“What we’re trying to do now is help others do the same,” says Brian, who explains that wood pellets are a reliable part of the answer to the decarbonisation of heat. And while he’s aware of the reputational issues borne from the botched RHI scheme, the benefits of wood pellets as an energy source far outweigh the notoriety of that scheme he believes.

He describes the RHI scheme as having laudable objectives but says a “mistake was made in how it was structured in NI”, and references a similar scheme in England that “doesn’t have the same runaway problem” but instead has enjoyed much success.

“It encourages people to use clean fuel, but that use of clean energy should not be a profit centre as it became in Northern Ireland.

“With carbon taxes rising in ROI, wood pellets will increasingly be able to compete with fossil fuel without the latent CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, in the UK, to qualify for Government contracts many firms will soon be expected to put forward credible plans to decarbonise,” he adds.

In this regard, Balcas wants to put the message out there that it can help in terms of decarbonisation of heat. And those who move quickly “will be able to create a very good story, and make a real difference,” Brian says.

Balcas tells its green story on a small and sophisticated scale. It goes beyond tick box exercises; it’s a bigger, further reaching operation.

The company has banned single use plastic bottles in-house, with all water now coming in recycled bottles. Its shredding is repurposed as dog bedding for a local husky shelter. Two years ago, it invested in 15 forklifts which run on Bio LPG. Meanwhile, a former wasteland area has been replanted with a wildflower meadow with honey production imminent, all thanks to Balcas.

“We’re committed to doing our best for a sustainable world, for ourselves as well as our world,” Brian says.

Looking to the future, sustaining and building on their eco efforts, he adds: “We are evaluating the electrification of our raw material intake fleet and I hope to see that happening in a few years.

“For us, the green story is only at the first stage. We do have the answer to decarbonising home heat and it’s a good and balanced story,” he concludes.

“Balcas is a true example of a manufacturing contributor to the circular economy. Every log it uses originates from a sustainably managed forest. The forests throughout Britain and Ireland not only capture carbon but sustain rural jobs and provide leisure and social outlets for our citizens.”