About this group
River Dart Country Park is home to 90 acres of woodland and wildlife, and we are passionate about preserving our spectacular surroundings. One of the way’s we are doing this is by using a hydro scheme to produce our own electricity from the flow of water on the River Dart.
And you can see how 'Hugh's Three Hungry Boys' got on when they came to visit us - or perhaps we should say when we rescued them and their electric vehicle, and gave them a much needed green charge - in this video.
This is also a special kind of hydro. It’s the first Archimedes screw hydro scheme in the UK, and now Windsor Castle has also installed one to generate their Royal electricity!
The hydro produces enough electricity to make the Park self-sufficient for 8 months of the year, about the same as that used by 70 houses. This has also dramatically reduced our Carbon Footprint and it reduces our electricity consumption in the busy summer months.
Plus we have saved, from April 2007 until July 2011, over 650 tons of carbon and have generated over 1,200,000 kWh of electricity worth in excess of £120,000 from our hydro.
You can watch this video about our archimedes screw hydro:
At River Dart Park we also use environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals which contain no chlorine, our disposable plates, cups and cutlery are all biodegradable and we source our food from local producers and suppliers where ever possible.
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