We estimate that in the 2023/24 year The Pear Orchard Lodge’s annual carbon footprint was carbon positive, with emissions of approx. 2,46t of CO2e and an offset of approx. 5t through tree plantings on our property.
Throughout the year, The Pear Orchard Lodge business operations have absorbed approx. 2.5t of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Tiaki means to care for people and place. New Zealand is precious, and everyone who lives and travels here has a responsibility to look after it.
By following the Tiaki Promise, we are making a commitment to New Zealand, to act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home – for now and for future generations.
Nau Mai, Haere Mai Ki Aotearoa, Welcome to New Zealand.
We reduce our energy needs e.g. by use of passive solar energy for heating, excellent thermal insulation, efficient appliances, LEDs, solar hot water, line drying our laundry etc.
Since September 2024 we have been running entirely on our own PV system (with battery), harvesting the sun for electricity and exporting more power to the grid than we draw from it.
In the 2023/24 year The Pear Orchard Lodge has consumed 866kWh on average per month (including powering our EV) – that was prior to installing our own PV system.
Water in the lodge is primarily heated by collectors on the roof, using solar energy.
LPG and electricity are backup options to make sure our guests can always have a hot shower.
In the 2023/24 year The Pear Orchard Lodge has used approx. 71kg of LPG (8x 9kg bottles).
We utilise an electric vehicle (EV) for most business related trips.
Only a minimal amount of petrol and diesel are used to power the tractor, lawn mower and the chain saw.
In the 2023/24 year The Pear Orchard Lodge has used approx. 20l of diesel and 20l of petrol.
Many building components used in the lodge buildings have been recycled or produced on site.
These include the corrugated iron and bricks, all from the old farmhouse, furniture items made of recycled pear bins and Eucalyptus flooring from trees grown and milled on-site.
We also use as much vintage / recycled furniture as possible, in decorating the lodge.
Water-efficient taps, shower heads and toilet systems help reduce our water usage.
We are harvesting rain water from all the roofs to source our drinking water. Backup is supplied through a well on our property.
Our wastewater is treated on site in an active treatment system which exceeds the high quality standards required for treated effluent in our area.
This is then dispersed in our orchards to reduce the need for irrigation water.
All lodge waste is collected and separated into organic waste, glass, paper and cardboard, recyclable plastics and other rubbish.
All organic waste is composted on site and feeds our chickens. Only the waste that is not recyclable is going to the landfill.
In the 2023/24 year The Pear Orchard Lodge has sent approximately 2,321l of waste to the landfill, which is less than 20% of the waste that would currently be expected from an operation of our size in New Zealand.
Parts of the profits generated by the lodge and generous amounts of our time are invested every year in native bush regeneration on the property.
We are in the process of converting 1.6ha of gully and lowland area into a native habitat.
This includes riparian restoration around our creek and the pond, the creation of a wetland area and enhancing the native forest on the gully slopes.
We raise our own animals for meat production, maintain a large organic vegetable garden and have planted a home orchard with plentiful varieties of fruit trees (in addition to our commercial pear orchard).
This way we minimise the food and staples that we have to buy externally and if we do, then we make sure that these are grown locally rather than shipped around the world.
