Greentec Eco Homes and Filtrex have become the latest approved members of Éasca, Ireland's green building association. Niall Dolan of Greentec sees high demand for sustainable construction and their greenest project to date is a residential home in Galway using insulated foundations, timber frames, air barriers and natural finishes. Brendan Lynch of Filtrex discusses how their motivation to promote sustainable technology stems from seeing biomass boilers utilized abroad and their focus on commercial and public sector biomass projects and fuel preparation systems.

1. Éasca member profile:
GREENTEC ECO HOMES
& FILTREX
Sustainable builder Greentec Eco Homes and renewable hea ng company Filtrex have become the latest approved
members of Éasca – the green building associa on’s membership now totals 40 of Ireland’s leading sustainable
suppliers, contractors and designers. Construct Ireland spoke to Greentec MD Niall Dolan and Filtrex MD Brendan
Lynch to find out more.
projects in the pipeline but the greenest one on of extrac on plants by 60%
to date is a residen al dwelling in Barna, Co
Galway. All aspects of the house have been dis- CI: What mo vated you to go this direc on?
cussed with the clients and construc on is due BL: I have been travelling to trade fairs in Ger-
to commence within a fortnight. The agreed products many since 1991, when I visited the Ligna show
for the build include an insulated founda on in Hannover, and I was amazed at how other
system with low carbon concrete, structure from countries u lised their waste or by-products.
Advanced Timber Frame using cellulose and wood This was my first introduc on to biomass boil-
fibre insula on, Pro Clima Intello air ght mem- ers and brique e presses. A er talking to sev-
brane, air-filled Struder C floor insula on and eral manufacturers, I realised that what we in
Fermacell plaster board finished with natural paints. Ireland were calling waste and sending to land-
fill, the Germans and Danes called fuel and
CI: Do you see any poten al problems with a were using to heat their factories and homes.
rapid na onal energy efficiency drive? This trip sparked my interest in renewable en-
Construct Ireland: Is there much demand for ND: Yes, I can see some dangers arising. The ergy and recycling, and I went on to visit dis-
a sustainable contractor in the current market? correct building materials need to be installed trict hea ng models in Denmark and Austria
Niall Dolan: Yes, I am seeing a high demand for for a healthy living environment and contractors fuelled by waste wood and brique es from the
green building work at the moment. Obviously need to take proper training. wood processing sector.
we are currently in recessionary mes and this
seems to have affected all building work re- CI: Where do you see most growth opportuni es?
gardless of building methods, but thankfully BL: We see most of our growth coming from
my company receives a great amount of queries biomass boilers in the commercial and public sector
regarding green building on a regular basis. I and also biomass fuel shredding and prepara-
think that people are now more aware of the on systems for biomass power plants and bri-
effect that construc on has on the environ- que ng plants.
ment and the advantages of building low car-
bon homes. CI: Can you describe a recent project where
you've put sustainable principles into prac ce?
CI: What mo vates your clients to go green? BL: We recently commissioned a 1MW district
ND: One main reason in my opinion is that our hea ng system fuelled by locally produced
lifestyles in general have changed over the past wood-chip for Tralee Town Council in Kerry.
few years to that of an organic nature – for in-
stance with foods and health products. This The district hea ng scheme consisted of five
has also been reflected in the way in which we apartment blocks – each individually zoned in the
want our homes built – free from toxins with as plantroom, with a total of 50 one and two bedroom
many natural products as possible being used. CI: Why is Filtrex a green company? units, each individually metered and charged per
This in turn leads to a healthy living environment. Brendan Lynch : For almost ten years we have kWh – along with a day care centre and library.
been commi ed to promo ng the use of sus-
Also energy savings definitely play a pivotal tainable technology to our customers in order Filtrex were responsible for design, installa on
role in mo va ng my clients. I think they’re ex- to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. In the first in- and commissioning and maintenance. The final
tremely content with the fact that there will be stance this was in the wood processing sector installa on consisted of two 500kW Herz wood
li le or no energy bills in the lifecycle of the house. where we installed the first biomass boilers, chip biomass boilers, two 5000l hot water
elimina ng fuel and landfill costs. We also in- buffers, a wood chip fuel storage bunker fit-out,
CI: What’s your greenest project to date? troduced advanced filter technology u lising boiler house M&E, cyclonic fly ash separa on
ND: At the moment I have a number of green inverter driven fans reducing power consump- and a stainless steel flue system.
(above left) Greentec MD Niall Dolan; (above centre) Filtrex MD Brendan Lynch pictured with environment minister John Gormley
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